One fire started from the explosion of an oil tank containing hundreds of gallons which bumped into a submerged building.
The fire started in a row of buildings on Third Street near Jefferson, right in the heart of the business section, and not far from the Algonquin Hotel, the Y. M. C. A., and other large buildings.
The report of the fire was sent out by Wire Chief Green, of the Bell Telephone Company, who said the fire was then within a block of the telephone exchange in which was located John A. Bell, who for more than twenty-four hours had kept the outside world informed as best he could of the catastrophe in Dayton.
A. J. Seattle, owner of the house in which the fire started after a gas explosion, was blown into the air and killed instantly.
Mrs. Shunk, a neighbor, was blown out of her home into the flood. After clinging to a telegraph pole for half an hour, she finally succumbed and was sucked under the waters.
The explosion blew a stable filled with hay into the middle of the flooded street and this carried the flames to the opposite side.
The next house to burn was Harry Lindsay's. Then Mary Kreidler's and then the home of Theodore C. Lindsay and other houses that had been carried away from their foundations floated into the flames and soon were on fire.
The floating fires burned without restraint and communicated flames to many other buildings where families awaited help.
The Beckel House was threatened and Jefferson Street was on fire on its east side from Third Street as far down as the Western Union office. Refugees driven from their places where they had sought safety from the floods were leaping from roof to roof to escape the new terror. The fire was rapidly approaching the Home Telephone plant.
HUNDREDS IMPERILED BY FLAMES