Carey Fire Menaces Stadium; Fast Work Saves Steel Structure

Smoke and flame bursting through the roof and windows of the second story of the Carey Cage threatened serious destruction to the Stadium at Soldiers's Field yesterday afternoon before the fire was brought under control.

Quick action on the part of Charles Gould, employee of the Athletic Association working at the Business School tennis courts, and the Boston Fire Department controlled the fire and limited the damages to an estimated $1500. Cause of the blaze, according to fire officials' report, was spontaneous combustion started by the paper cartons stored in the building.

Gould was working at the Business School courts when he observed smoke coming from the second story windows of the Carey building, a small frame and stucco structure lying almost adjacent to the northeast corner of the Stadium. Two minutes after he turned in the alarm, the Boston Fire Department, District 11, consisting of two ladder trucks and three engine trucks arrived on the scene. The first alarm was turned in at 3:28 o'clock.

Under the direction of Chief James A. Kennedy, ladders were quickly raised and holes were knocked in the windows and roof to allow water to reach the flames. Entry to the fire was made difficult by the fact that the whole of the second floor and part of the first was filled with smoke.

Second Alarm Sounded

Kennedy turned in a second alarm at 3:42 o'clock and one more ladder engine and three more engine trucks headed by acting Chief of the Boston Fire Department, John F. McDonough, were soon at the scene, and the fire was quickly neutralized. By that time traffic was being held up on North Harvard Street and had to be routed through the Business School by the policemen who were on hand.

It was estimated by the fire officials that had the blaze reached serious proportions that the steel girders supporting the stadium might have been warped in the heat, thus causing serious damage to the structure. University officials have not as yet made any statement concerning damage or plans for repairs.