From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1/21/1927, p. 1, c. 6
TWO-ALARM FIRE OCCURS AT TREDEGAR IRON WORKS
Fire that originated in the pattern storage room of the Tredegar Iron Works yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock seriously threatened the plant and two alarms for firemen became necessary before it was checked.
The density of the smoke that rolled from the second story windows hampered the first section of firefighters so that additional help was summoned. In less than an hour after the first alarm the blaze was extinguished. The damage was estimated by Archer Anderson, Jr., president of the company, as being $1,000.
Because of the difficulty of firemen at first to get to the scene owing to the smoke, the fire threatened to be a serious one. Engine Companies No. 3, 4 and 7 arrived in response to the first alarm under Battalion Chief A. F. Taylor. Suction pipes from the engines were lowered into James River whose waters chiefly put out the fire. Three other engine companies, 6, 5 and 9 that answered the second alarm, used water from the canal and one hydrant on the opposite side from the first group of firemen. All employees escaped and there were no casualties.
An aged man doing odd jobs around the plant discovered the smoke and attempted, with two other workmen, to put the fire out with buckets of water. Failing this they turned in the alarm.
The patterns destroyed were obsolete, officials of the company said. The origin of the fire was not determined.