Chapter 1: Section 7: Page 63: Lines 145-146 (1127-1128)

 "I could've been in the chapel at that dance where the fire broke out. Guess you saved my fundament, there."

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"the chapel at that dance where the fire broke out"
The Northern Ohio Insane Asylum has been painted as Hell and the fire which broke out began in the one possibly holy place in the entire complex. A chaotic reaction of evil against the holy trying to purify it.
    Roswell points out that he "could've" been in the chapel but wasn't. Probably because he's cynical. He's merely reacting as anybody might react when they've fled a dangerous situation: "It could have been worse. I could have died. I was just lucky enough to be where I was in the midst of the danger." But we all know Roswell never actually would have been in the chapel.

"saved my fundament"
Literally, "You saved my ass." But the word "fundament" is probably meant to make the reader think of fundamentalist religions, just to keep the "Insane Asylum as Hell" and "Saloon as Church" analogy going. Merle not only saved his ass but the continuation of his belief system.

Chapter 1: Section 7: Page 63: Line 142 (1124)

 By the time the fire was under control, the exhaustion and confusion were too advanced for anyone to notice as Merle and Roswell slipped away.

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Notice Pynchon never alludes to how the fire started. But if you follow the money (the money in this case is just somebody benefitting from the fire), we must assume it was set by Merle or Roswell. Probably Roswell since previous mentions of Merle rescuing other Ætherists (like Ed Addle) without a story of a fire leads one to assume Merle could handle it without nearly killing everybody. Also, Roswell seems like the kind of cynical jerk who would risk other people's lives, limbs, and properties to gain something he desired, like, um, freedom.
    But I don't think that's the point of this line, to encourage the reader to see Roswell Bounce as an arsonist. I'm sure the fire is a metaphor for Michelson and Morley's null result, the exhaustion and confusion a metaphor for the scientific community's response to the mortal wounding of Æther, and Merle and Roswell slipping away a metaphor for life going on in spite of drastic changes to one's environment, lifestyle, or culture.

Chapter 1: Section 7: Page 63: Line 139 (1121)

 Sparks and coals blew and fell.

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Pynchon's subtext in this line is vague. Is he making a comparison between the coal burning of the industrial revolution and the sparks of the upcoming electric age? Is this the punch line of an old vaudevillian dirty joke? I know it's not just a descriptive line of the fire because that would indicate this blog has been a disastrous waste of my time. Instead, I'll just assume I'm too dumb to understand it. Or, better yet because this makes me less dumb, I just can't understand it until I've read the entire book. Perhaps even Pynchon's entire library!

Chapter 1: Section 7: Page 63: Line 138 (1120)

Crowds of onlookers from the neighborhood had gathered to see the show.

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 According to the article I posted in the previous blog entry, Pynchon chooses to misrepresent the asylum's neighbors. In the article, they supposedly helped evacuate the burning building with one neighbor, Benjamin Burgess, losing his life in his efforts to help. It's understandable, though, because Pynchon occasionally needs to remind readers of the concept of an "audience". It's just a fun little postmodern wink at the reader's sloth and inactivity spent as a passive observer to the story. Stupid readers. Get active already! You're always just sitting there judging characters' actions while you do nothing at all!

Chapter 1: Section 7: Page 63: Line 137 (1119)

 This was the second major fire at Newburgh in fifteen years, and the horror of the first had not yet faded.

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"second major fire at Newburgh in fifteen years"
The first major fire was in 1872 after which the entire complex was rebuilt, larger and with more capacity to hold inmates. This second fire may just be a creation by Pynchon to set up whatever's going to happen to Merle to pull him out of his "void of course". I'm not much of a researcher but didn't find any evidence of a second fire when searching for fires at Newburgh. I decided not to even mention the earlier fire in 1872 when the fire was first mentioned because I was merely assuming that Pynchon was using the first fire as a historical basis for this second fire. But now that he's mentioned the first fire, I'm forced to believe that this second fire actually happened as well in 1877. Why would I have even doubted it in the first place?! I've already mentioned that I will only disbelieve any historical context in a Pynchon novel if shown proof that it never happened. And even then, being an American male, I'll probably still not totally be convinced. But the new proof will at least get me to shut up. Double but, I'll probably resent you for giving me the obliterating truth of a lie that I believed.

"horror of the first had not yet faded"
Read about it for yourself!

Found at Hoosier State Chronicles.

A quick search for a second fire in 1887 turned up nothing which means Pynchon manufactured the second one or I'm terrible at research. Both of those are entirely plausible.