five minutes before nine
A tiny frill of fire , under a feathery cloud of smoke , ran down the wooden ties ; sharp crackling sounds were heard ; and a moment later the frame roof of the raised depot burst into light . One would hardly have thought that there was here sufficient fuel to jeopardize greatly the stout stone walls of the South Station itself ; even to the firemen , skilled in such matters , risking their heads to drench those walls with water from a dozen lines of hose , the hazard , while grave , seemed far from hopeless . But this was not a day of reason nor of precedents . As the clock in the great facade showed five minutes before nine , the western eaves of the South Station caught . In this building , which is one of the busiest of the world 's terminals , was little inflammable material save that which was movable . The structure was built almost entirely of brick and stone and steel . Much of the steel work , to be sure , was not so protected as to render it fireproof ; yet in the building there would ordinarily have been scant fuel for an ordinary fire .