Early Morning Adams House Blaze Destroys Part of First Floor Room

Fire gutted half the living room of Adams C-5 at a few minutes before 3 a.m. this morning. A cigarette started the blaze in a couch under the Mt. Auburn Street window of the ground-floor corner room.

The alarm was turned in by John Kaplan '51, of C-14, who smelt smoke, went downstairs, and found Daniel B. Richardson '50 and Nicholas Benton '51 battling the flames. (The third occupant of the room, Philip W. K. Sweet '50, returned just as the fire department arrived.)

Kaplan ran to the CRIMSON building next door to get fire extinguishers and assistance. A group of editors with hand extinguishers got the fire under control by the time the engines arrived.

Firemen with gas masks entered by the side door and ran three hoses into the room. They extinguished the remnants of the fire, by then confined again to the couch, at 3:10.

The fire damage was limited to the furniture, wall, and window on the south side of the room.