Footage of fire-fighters in action became one of the more popular genres in the earliest years of the movies, and there were quite a few such films made in the 1890s, with Edison, the Lumières, and a number of others trying their hand at them. This movie is one of three Edison features filmed in Newark, New Jersey at the same time, and at least two of them survive (the other is called "A Morning Alarm"). This is a solid feature that uses most of the best-known techniques of its time.
The footage uses the diagonal angle that the Lumières had shown to be so effective in this kind of setting, and it does a good job of catching quite a bit of activity, as the numerous horse-drawn vehicles speed towards what must have been a rather serious fire. There is quite a crowd, and the camera angle works in catching many of the spectators. Only in the foreground is there some activity that sometimes moves just outside of the camera frame.
The technique in this feature is solid for its time, and the material gives you a short glimpse into a long-ago crisis in progress. The horse-drawn vehicles and other such details make it easy to tell how long ago this took place, but the anxious attention shown by the crowd reminds us that these kinds of human dramas have a hold on our emotions that doesn't change all that much over time.
