Smouldering Sofa Brings Fire Dept. To Lowell House

Nine fire engines, 24 firemen, the Cambridge police, and the House superintendent descended on Lowell House A entry at 6:45 a.m. yesterday. Thirty minutes later they departed, leaving behind them a smouldering couch.

The fire, which occurred in the A-44 room of Robert H. Knox '51 and Sterling E. Lanier '51, was discovered by Jay S. Lewis '51. Lewis had been studying on the couch shortly before the fire started but was in his own room across the hall when he smelled the smoke.

Lewis and his roommates tried to extinguish the blazing couch but had to leave the job to the horde of firemen who swarmed over the room with axes, flashlights, and a hose. Local urchins assumed salvage rights at 7:20 a.m. when firemen heaved the couch out the window.