A chemical-electric fire was put out before Marion firemen arrived at the scene at O.W. Irwin’s Typewriter Exchange at about 5:30 pm Wednesday. Irwin said he extinguished the adding machine fire with about a half gallon of ammonia. He said the flames reached to the ceiling of the repair room before the fire was put out. He said the adding machine was destroyed and that other damage was done to the work bench, tools, work light, and that the ceiling of the repair room was scorched. Irwin said he was attempting to unlock a frozen up adding machine by using chemicals and running the motor of the machine at the same time. He said, “Apparently the sparks from the motor ignited the chemical.” The chemicals are a fire danger when used in too large amounts. Irwin said the loss would be from $200 to $400.

(Extracted from local newspapers and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at http://www.marionfire.us )