Evening Star Newspaper, July 9, 1922, Page 53

4—8 Pages Part e S WASHINGTON, = VaE Suit b Ty MA“G‘;A;ZI i3 i 4 bl 51&1’ | | FEATURES D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 9, 1922. Being a Member of the Fire Department for a Sin BY JAMES A. BUCHANAN. N ear splitting screech—a flying streak of red—the shrill shriek of the sirens—the clanging of bells—the roar of high-powered motors—the dashing of engines—the noise of hook and ladders—the rumbling of the water tower—the puff, puff, of the water-throwing engines, such is, in part. a description of how Chief of th- Fire Department George S. Watson and members of the Washington fire de- partment respond to an alarm. As vou stand on the sidewalk you wender Why tne firemen take sach des- perate chances in dashing to a fire. You think. perhaps, that a minute or two of time in getting to the scene of the con- flagration might perhaps be the means of saving the lives of some of the fire- ‘men. but if you talk with the chlef of the fire department he will speedily con- vincs you that the speed is for the pur- pose of saving human lives. The delay of a few seconds may result in the jump- ing from a window of some hysterical man. woman or child, who is standing on the sill of a smoke-filled room with Iy flames eating at the door be- Tind. According to fire department offi- . Washingtonians are lack in observ- the rules governing the right of they do not seem to pay much at- on to the warning sounds coming from the chief's horn or the sirens on the engines, and, as a rule, after the first piece of apparatus has passed mot- orists generally fall in behind, making a regular procession, apparently un- aware that a second and third piece of fire-fighting machinery generally fol- lows the first. According to the same source of information, some employes of the railway companies do not bring their trolley cars to a stop when they hear the alarm of the fast-approaching engine, thus endangering mnot only the lives of the firemen, but the passengers on the street cars. In every other city of any size in the United States motor- men are compelled to bring their cars to a standstill and maintain the car in that position until all danger of colli- gion has passed. They are also required to stop their cars at crossings and glance both ways to see if any engines are in gight. Pedestrians, in many instances, seemingly unmindful of their own re- sponsibility, saunter slowly across the street depite the fact that the noise of the approaching engine can be heard four or five blocks away. It is only by the most skillful driving that many fatal accidents have been prevented in the Ty ast. . * % x # T has been for countless years the I ambition of nearly every boy to be a fireman, and in the days gone by he has pictured himself riding upon the seat of a fire engine, holding the reins over the backs of two,or more dashing horses as they drag the heavy engine to the fire. He has menatally attired himself in the old-fashionied jeather helmet. the red or blue flannel shirt. across the breast of which was the name or number of his favorite company. He has, in imagination. donned the trousers and rubber boots and has held in his hand the silver truthpet won by his company. Alas! Fowever, for the dreams of youth. The old leather helmet. because of its welght and clumsines, has been re- placed by a headpiece made of alumi- num, the fancy attire of fireman of other days has given way to service- able and sensible uniforms. The prancing steeds, in a majority of cases, have given way to motorized fire-fighting apparatus, and the pres- ent-day chief uses not a silver trump- et. as was used in the days when Yirginia City was the greatest mining camp in the United States. Antedat- fng this. one found the old side-work- ing pumping machines, and prior to this was the leather bucket brigade, all these have passed and are consid- ercd as much out of date at the pres- ent writing as bustles and puffed sleeves. The modern firefighter is a careful- 1y selected and constantly trained spe- cialist. As a rule he is caught young and trained early, and his training never ceases while he is a member of the department. He must ever keep abreast of the latest improvements in fire-fighting methods. His training never relaxes, and his whole trend of thought is directed to the end that he may be instrumental in saving life and property. The record of the District of. Co- Jumbia fire department, despite the fact that it has in the past, and is to a certain extent at the present time, been hampered by lack of Yroper apparatus. is an enviable one and not for twenty years has any fire spread beyond the point of con- trol. “ The department numbers 650 men, George S. Watson being in charge, with the title of chief engineer. This title has been carried down from the old statutes under which the office was created. The deputy chiefs are A. J. Sullivan and P. W. Nicholson. There are four battalions and forty- five houses. The department op- erates under the two-platoon system, another old idea and one that pre- wvents the men from having. needed recreation. Some may think that be- cause when they pass the fire engine house and see three or four firemen sitting around the fireman has an easy job, but let them spend a day or more, as the writer did, with the department and they will soon /realize that the fireman is a pretty busy gentleman. There is the dally drill, the cleaning up of apparatus and fireliouse, the lectures, and this, that and the other thing to Ve done each and every day during the year, except for twenty days, when the fire- anan receives his well earned vacation. * ¥ ¥ ¥ SlT down some day and talk with the fire laddies. Perhaps You will be in the middle of a sentence when ding! pause ding! ding! ding! ding! ding! pause ding! ding! ding! ding! ding! ding! ding!—tranaslated, this means that fire box No. 167 has been pulled. On the recording tape & cor- responding number of holes have been punched and you know at once that fhe fire de ent is needed at the [White House. Long before you have Pussled - out '.Mvm.fih is - the W RITER Joins the “Laddies” to Find Out What They Do to Keep Themselves Busy; and He Finds Out—The .Necessity of Speed.. and More Speed—Some Modern Apparatus Lacking in Local Depa.rtment — A Boyhood Ambition “Shot to Pieces"™—Selection of the Modern Fire Fighter—His Training—Washington's Fire Losses and Good Record of the Department. men have mounted to their places and are a block or more away. Herr- mann, Kellar, Malini, Thurston or any of the other great magiclans never staged such a wonderful disap- pearing act as did the men with whom you were talking a minute before. Fortunately, it was a false alarm and the engines chugged back to their houses, apparatus put in ship-shape order immediately upon return, for the machines must be ready for an- other run at the very instant another alarm comes in. No matter how tired the men are, no matter how cold, wet and hungry they may be, they must take care of their machines be- fore they give any heed to bodily comfort. At the present time there is one water tower company and an auxil- fary in the local department. There are twelve hook and ladder compa- nies, nine of which are regulation truck companies, while three are city service trucks. These latter have not yet been equipped with full-length ladders. There are no strictly chem- ical companles in the department, but all hose wagons are equipped with chemical tanks for use in extinguish- ing incipient fires and blazes that cannot be handled successtully by the use of water alone. Some engine companies are still provided with horses, and two truck companies are likewise equipped. Used in different capacities, there are seventy horses still used in the department. Many of these are attached to reserve ap- paratus and other vehicles. Each one of these seventy horses must be fed, shod and cared for. Some of the horses that were formerly attached to the engines have been turned over to other departments of the city, and it is not an unusual sight to notice a former fire horse, when he hears the engines coming, prick up his ears and eagerly' await the urge of his driver, and it requires no great stretch of imagination to picture that one can discern in the eye:of the steed 2 longing to join the dash to the fire. In practically every city of reason- able size in the United States the fire department is equipped with a bulld- ing known as a drill tower, where men daily practice ladder and hose work as well as the extremely impor- tant rehearsal of life-saying from| windows aud ledues. ' This s smothan matter that has b asked for, .but not yet granted to the Distyict by Congress. < < Up- to June 20 of this year 1,949 alarms have been Jurned in since June 30 of last year—a number that ex<] ‘ceeds the figures of the fiscal year previous. Just what has been the cause of this increase in Washington is not known. There have been wery few fires of a suspicious origin durin, that period. = 4 * % ¥ ¥ Txl: ‘majority of fires are caused by carelessness, as will be seen by ot oSSBT i el S N S SR report shows: Ashes placed in wooden containers, or thrown against wood- work, 34; automobiles, electric wires short-circuiting, #: brush, grass and leaves ignition, 282: chimneys de- fective, soot in, sparks from smoky, 131; electric batteries, fixtures, mo- tors, switches, wires, etc., defective or short-circuiting, 35; gas (illumi- nating), careless use of defective fix- tures, heaters, pipes, ranges, stoves, looking for leaks with matches or candles, 48; rubbish, smoking, care- less, 60; stoves, furnaces, heating, la- trobes, incinerators, ovens, sparks from stovepipes, defective, heat from, improper draft (causing smoke, over- heated, 126; stoves, heatérs, lamps (kerosene), carelessness, defective, smoky, 34. The wise householder will have his chimney, stoves, pipes, flues, etc., repaired in the late summer or early fall months. Owing to the fact that the sale of explosizes or fire- works has been prohibited in the Dis- trict of Columbia, there were but elght Fourth of July fires last year, six of these being caused by the so- called harmless “sparkler.” and while the property damage was estimated at $645, the cost to the taxpayers on the regort of the five department. The- 4 _ wap this date was about $600 additional as it is estimated that each alarm costs $75 to the citizen, to say nothing of the amount of material, such as fuel, etc., used during the period of a fire. There is one man in the District of Columbia who has a most interesting line of work. His name is Leonard V. Seib, fire marshal of the District. He is the officlal investigator and is active in fire prevention work, ‘oc- cupying a prominent position during the fire prevention week in October of every year. He has charge of all theatrical precautionary measures and it is said by friends that one of the hardest parts of his job is to control the actions, as far as fire prevention I8 concerned, of the young ladles who grace the chorus of travel. ing theatrical companies. Despite the recent protestation of certain press agents, who have emphatically denied that Miss Tottie Twinkle Toes, who carries a spear and rolls her own, is not a devotee of Lady Nicotine, the fire marshal and his brave aides— for it takes a brave man to call down la chorus person—have not as yet is- sued any official bulletin stating that it has not been necessary to call down the aforesaid thespian flapper for smoking in the dressing rooms of the theater. I'pon this subject, E. R. Plerce, chief clerk of the fire de- partment. who can tell you all about the department without ever consuit- ing the book, and who knows his business, maintained a discrete si- lence, smilingly passing the buck to the fire marshal. There are over 8§00 fire alarm hoxes in the sixty-nine and a quarter square miles of territory covered by the local firemen. There are about a hundred talse alarms turned in each year, the majority of these being caused by mischievous youngsters who do not thoroughly appreciate the danger and waste entailed upon a non-genuine ularm. There was a case some time ago where a country boy from an adjoining state had endeavored to mail a letter in a fire alarm box and was quite surprised when the engines arrived on the scene. The youth was so apparently innocent of liny wrong intent that he was not haled to court, but received a lecture from the de- partment officials and even the fire- men, who detest the fake box pullers, had to smile at the discomforture of the country lad. Other cases have been caused by those who have in- N dulged too freely in the modern- brand of hooch. These latter offenders when caught, recelve, as a rule, very stiff sentence from the Polce Court judges. * ok x HAT Chief Watson is proud of the men under him is evidenced in the tribute that he paid them when discussing fire department matters with the writer the other day. The chief said: “We have the highest class men in the District of Columbia fire depart- ment that it is pogsible to obtain The men are earnest, brave and efficient. They are always on their toes and willing to take chances, no matter how long those chances may be. No chief could want a finer body of men. and despite the fact that they have for vears been working under severe hundicaps they have kept their high morale. Why, in one of the houses I have in mind at the present moment the men are situated in quarters that are absolutely in- sanitary. Their sleeping rooms are cold and they work continuously under artificlal light. There are cockroaches in the building that are nearly as big as cats—at least, they “Oratory By Correspondence”—By Ring W. Lardner! O the editor:—It is kind of embarrassing for a man to of lived over 2 yrs. in a town that ain't no bigger than Great Neck and when one of your friends comes out from New York or somewheres to visit and In- quires from the butcher or the prop. of the drug store where your house I8, to have them reply that they ain’t never heard of you. This Is the situation I been up against in this fair city and couldn’t see no rellef in sight up to a couple days ago when the mail man who has finely located our home brought a let- ter from Harrisburg that sheds a beam of hope and makes it look lke maybe I am through With the era of oblivion. This letter is from a firm which has got up a great idear namely . they have hired a bunch of speech writers to write speéches on every subject which people is liable to make a speech about and you send them & $6.00 note and they send you a book of 100 different kind of speeches, or if you have got to make a speech on some subject which ain’t included amongst the 100 speechés, why If they have got a speech in stock on that subject you can buy it off them for should ought to be able to select a $1.26 or they will write you s special | subject that would knock them out of 'speech on any subject at the rate of $4.00 per 1000 wds. 5 o5 ok Bty o 2 which you tan buy for a $6.00 spot ana this collection is what appeals to me the most as the letter practically promises that if you get a.hold of these 100 speeches you will be a leader in your community and when a person i§ a leader In their com- munity, why if the people in the drug store and butcher shop say they ain’t never heard of you they make a mon- key out of themselfs not you. ‘A few of the subjects included amongst the 100 which it looks like they would be useful before a audi- ence of Great Neckers is as follows: Address Presenting a Gold Watch or Traveling Bag. Grit, and What it Will Do. Teacher’s Farewell Address at th Closing of Schaol. : Character Bulilding.- ‘The Door to Buccess is Labelled Push. p Our Pastor a Leader. Life is What We Make It. Address Presenting a Watch to the Teacher (a gift from the pupils). ‘Why I Am a Republican. Address at Reception to Our Pastor. .From that little list alone 'a person their seats, but without seeming like 1 was bragging it looks to me like 1 Harrisburg people’s plan have- hit, on & improvement on the will make me a leader in the community & ahead and use the speechs like they|to “Why I Am a Republican™ at a was intended to be used. * k ¥k X MY Hdoar is instead of makelng a speech which is suppose to be appropriate to the occaslon, why I would take the book along with me to whatever function was comeing off and when they called on me for a speech why 1 would open the book at random and the first speech I opened to would be the one I would read ir- banquet In Tammany Hall. Or sup- pose the occasion was commence- ment exercises. Instead of giveing them the speech called “Graduation, a Beginning, Not an Ending,” I might open to the one called “Address to a Departing Foreman.” * k¥ x OR if I was called on at a gathering of glee clubs, instead of giveing them the ‘“Welcome Address at a regardless of what the subject was| Singing Convention,” I might happen or what kind of a audlence I was|to surprise them with talking to. it “Resolved, that Dependent Mothers Should Be This would make the speechs extra | Supported at the Expense of the Pub- comical and after I had tore off a|jjc” couple of them at different functions, About the most comical one of all why when the druggist and butcher| however would be if I was asked to was asked where I live they would| talk before a convention of farmers hailf to say “Oh you mean that funny | and the speech I opened to would speech maker.” happen to be “A College Education Like for inst. they’s a speech in the| ig a Greater Asset Than a 50 Acre collection called Knight Templara| Farm. Past and Present. Well suppose I was | = The Harrisburg people advertises in asked to address the Knights of Co- |their letter that any of the speechs lumbus and happened to turn to that|can be delivered anywheres without speech, why before I had said more | giveing offense to nobody, but Roose- than a few 1q0 wds. the house would | velt, Wilson, Chauncey Depew or' no be in a uproar. Or suppose they was a reception to our pastor and they called on me for s talk and I should get up and read them “Address Presenting a Gold Watch or Traveling Bag.” Our pastor (whuld thigk | or the other and the laugh would be at his expenses. : t happen, that I would ppen. 1 one else ever made a name for them- selfs as a speech maker by not of- fending nobody and the way I would work it, I'would offend as many dif- ferent people as possible. Only I wouldn't go too far as I think he was going to get one | would rather remain obscure like at present than be a leader in the com- munity and nobody but my widow to brag about it. B2y il gle Day have but one thought, and that is to escape from the fire that menaces them, and in that mental condition they prefer to be dashed to death or maimed for life rather than be burned. A minute delay—yes, even five seconds’ delay—in our arrival may mean the life or death of one or more persons. Motorists, pedestrians and railway men should take these facts into consideration when they hear us coming. Motorists should pull up to the curb at once, pedestrians should stay on the sidewalk and motormen should halt their cars. We can dodge them If they are standing still. It is the duty of every citizen to play his part in helping us when we are on the way to a fire. Quite recently we had to dodge iwup ‘'mes in a block and a half, and thai Gelay might have meant the 108s 61 life not only to the occupants of the building, but to the firemen on the engines and trucks as well as pas- sengers in the street cars. It is a peculiar mental something that causes every ome to dash after the first plece of fire aparatus that passes, thus impeding the progress of those that are to follow. Some people have an idea that it is a sort of parade, and they must get in right after the first engine.” The chief is particularly proud of the water tower, which has rend-red such excellent service at recent! fires, and invited the writer to accompany him on his tour of inspection of the firehouse on 14th street just below Pennsylvania avenue. Close at our heels was the chief's personal “go- devil,” painted red—but after you have ridden to a couple of fires with the chief you begin to wonder how any paint stays on its sides, so rapid is its flight through the air, and if any of the readers of this article have an idea that Murphy, De Palma or Barney Oldfield are the only ones who know how to drive a car at a hundred miles an hour or more, they should climb into the seat beside the driver who pilots the chief's auto- mobile. The driver is a rather mild- mannered, quiet young person when in repose, but whenever he “gives it the gas” he seems to do with that steering wheel the things that Tod Sloan used to do with race horses on the big tracks. He just lifts tha automobile over street car crossings s0 that the bump received by the front wheels is lost by the time the rear ones hit the ground. If you started to repeat the alphabet at tha Peace Monument while riding with him, you probably would not get Covarng Aciew, ook that size—and yet these men stay with the department because it | is their earnest desire to give our citizens honest and efficient service and to eventually help in making this the greutest fire department in the world, “The spirit of the men is simply wonderful. For twenty years no fire has gotten away from us, gotten out of the building In which it started. This is a record for the United States. When you take into consideration that they have been working with inadequate equipment and under ad- erse conditions, you will realize that they are genuine fire fighters, not simply men who welur a uniform and draw pay.” Touching upon the subject of equip- ment, the chief said: “The Knicker- bocker Theater disaster of last year brought most forcefully to mind the need of a rescue company provided with a truck. Fortunately, we have been able to secure such a piece of apparatus, and when completed it will be equipped with L thirty-six- inch searchlight, twenty flood lights, together with acetelyne cutters, jacks, picks, crowbars and other things necessary for our work, and we are planning drills for the rescue squad.” One of the don'ts suggested by Chief Watson is: “Don't open safes until they have cooled.” Touching' upon the improvement in masks used in fighting fires, Chief Watson said: much further than the letter “E" be- fore you reached the District build- ing, and when you comment upon the rapidity of flight, he modestly replies that he thought she could do a little better than that if he could only find time to tune her up a bit. The chie? answers all second alarms, day or night. A VISIT to the place where the water tower is kept disclosed the latest thing in fire-fighting equipment. The tower reaches to a height of seventy-five feet, and within less than ten seconds is ready to receive water from the engines that have coupled their pumping hose to any one of the numerous attachments on the sid: Each man of the crew has his station and knows just exactly how to handle this large American-La France model As the tower is run up, supporting braces hold it in position, while cast or anchor lines are fastened to ob- jects on the sidewalk, thus braeing it in all directions. A towing or guide line directs the pointing of the noz- zle, through which the 2% -inch stream is thrown. This stream has a force from 225 to 250 pounds, and is suffi- cient to knock down a brick wall, for 1,150 gallons of water can be dis- charged each minute. The hundred and five horsepower engine can pull the heavy vehicle at the rate of about twenty-two miles per hour. Attention should be called at this point to the men who handle the steering wheels at both frontand rear. These men have to work in direct harmony or the tower would be speedily piled up on the sidewalk, and the helmsmen have no time to view passing scenery while on their way to a fire. Chief Watson has equipped the truck in the same en- gine house with an auxiliary water tower, and intends, as soon as ap- propriations permit, to equip in a similar manner all the trucks. | The motorization of the fire depart- ment necessitates an up-to-date Te- pair shep, because no fire department. has time to wait long for repairs. The repair shop of the local depart- * * k% “We are not as well equipped with masks as we should be; in fact, we only have six gas masks for the entire department. Army masks won't do, for fire uses up oxygen, it forms a carbon monoxide that is poi- son. A majority of our masks are only good for about 10 per cent of the work. We have but tyo helmets, each weighing thirty-nine pounds, that carry their own supply of oxy- gen, and these only contain a few hours’ supply.” In answer to the question that has been in the minds of many, why it is that some means of fighting Ares, other than by water, have not been developed, the chief sald: “Chemicals work very well when a fire is amall, and they would work m advantageously if a sufficient supply could always be on hand, but the mains are filled with water, not with chemicals. There is one point that I would like to emphasize, and that {8 the necessity for speed. We don't dash through the streets for the mere sake of seeing how fast we can go. Every man In the department realizes that a crash may mean his death or the deaths of others. We speéd because it is absolutely neces. sary for the saving of human life. * x x % «PICTURE to yourself a hotel, ment is located on North Carolina avenue between 6th and 7th streets, lana here a force of trained auto- mobile repairmen and machinists are employed in keeping up the equip- ment to concert pitch. Despite the severe blizzard last winter, at which time many pieces of apparatus lay helpless by the roadside, Chief Watson on the night of the Knickerbocker disaster fought successfully two fires, besides render- ing service at the theater at 18th street and Columbla road. The total loss by fire during last year was almost one million dollars in the District of Columbina. This, of course, includes losses by fire in buildings under the jurisdiction of the United States government. De- ducting these, the loss was about four hundred and twenty thousand dollars for seventeen hundred and seventy-one fires. The loss by fire in the United States reaches an enormous total, and much of it could be prevented if proper preventative measures were taken. The majority of fires occur on Saturday or Sun- day nights, or. to be correct, early : Sunday and Monday mornings. If you are young and energetic and of the masculine persuasion and want to enter upon & career that s filled with some thrills and plenty of dwelling house, office building or { hard work, join the District of Co- any other kind of structure that houses clumbia fire department. Otherwise human . beings, with smoke pouring|be contént with your lot, which 1 out of its windows, hysterical people | terrffied ' by the fire’ behind them |firemen from me, know you will not, and learn about