1952
Los Angeles, March 25 (Associated Press) - Fire which flashed swiftly in a six-floor hotel killed at least six men today. A night clerk who ran through the corridors knocking on doors, then hurried back to his switchboard to warn others by telephone, was credited with saving many lives.
A estimated 150 were in the St. George Hotel at 115 E. Third St. when the blaze broke out at 3 a.m. Police said 10 were hospitalized with burns or injuries.
Fire Captain Claude Conlan said a check showed that the hotel's second floor fire hose was so rotted it was not usable, and a weight-balanced fire escape ladder at the rear, leading from the second floor to the ground, was wired up.
The whine of sirens mingled with the screams of burned and calls for help as firemen and ambulances rolled up at the first alarm. Division Chief H. M. Melvin put in a quick call for aerial ladder trucks as frightened faces appeared at upper windows of the 100-room brick structure.
One by one the big ladders swung to windows to take off the occupants. Other clambered down fire escapes and a few jumped into nets. Most of them were suffering from the intense heat and heavy smoke.
Arther M. Massey, 56, an electrician, was met by smoke and flames when he opened the door of his sixth floor room. Cut off from escape by the hall, he yelled out the window, he said. He saw a man in an adjoining room put a leg over the sill and thought he might jump."
"When I saw the firemen back a big truck up below and swing an extension ladder up, I was mighty thankful," he said. "It was getting mighty hot and smoky in my room. As soon as the ladder hit the sill, I started down it. Didn't even wait for the firemen, who was on his way up.
We passed each other."
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