The evening world. Newspaper, May 18, 1922, Page 24

PENT REL ST ES That Test Man’s Courage, Nerve and Muscle; Ordeal Rookie Must Pass to Be Accepted for Department. By Jerry Daly. Dopyright, 1922 (New York Event by Preas Publishing Co. ce ITREMEN ere not made— F they're born; we couldn't make a fireman out of the World) best athieto that ever came here if he didn’t have the guts"—— It was Battalion Chief Thomas Larkin who Was speaking; a fireman thirty-eight Years and the man who has put the stamp of approval on 6,000 probation- ary firemen in the past twelve years. Some of the 6,000 would not be mem- bers of the Fire Department to-day had Chief Larkin permitted them to yield to their first impulses while go- ing through the course of instruction. Every fireman, regardless of his name, "his social standing, his political influence, his extraordinary physique, his war record for exceptional conduct under fire, or any other meritorious features, must attend, for thirty days following his appointment on proba- tion, the Fire Department School of Instruction in old Fire Headquarters in East 67th Street. There tho “probs” are taught the rudiments of conducting themselves at fires and every little movement, with a mean- ing all its own, is explained in detail by Chief Larkin and his two assist- ants, Lieut. Francis L. Peterson of Hook and Ladder Company No. 16 and Engineer Martin C. Wiliner of The identity of over 150 tools and other fire fighting implements is but a small part of the curriculum of the School of Instruction. Every imag- inable article from the tiny tip of a one-inch nozsle to a heavy hydraulic jack is used during the course of in- struction. Some of the implements the ambitious fir.men are required to learn all about are door openers, claw tools, lock forcers, sledges, hooks, axes, cellar pipes, pitchforks, hose straps, roof reels and life belts, Tying knots so that life lines and roof ropes will be securely fastened is another phase of the school the rook- jes take much interest In. They are required to know how to tie a “‘chim- ney hitch,"* two half hitches, a rolling 1 -h and a bow''ne knot before ti.-y “sraduate" from the school Tying knots naturally brought up the subject of sailors making good firemen, “Yes, sailors usually make Splendid firemen, but remember 1 mean real sailors who have been be- fore the mast and are used to hard knocks," Chief Larkin said, with the further qualification, ‘you know those dry-land sailors are no good," Warming the veteran chief up to the muc mooted question as to what kind of young man makes the best freman, Chief Larkin, himself a sutlor ©f the old school, sald thut there wae o set distinction in that reguid. “I have seen husky truck djvers come e und absolutely go to pieces, ther hand IT have had dry goods store clerks come in here and make good, because they were good and on the athletes and had a fair amount of nerve. “I have found that @ lot of so- called fearless strong men forget over night what was pounded into their heads the day before, This fire job 48 not all muscle, you know; it is a Breat deal muscle and @ proportionate amount of intelligent thinking. Lots of chaps holding down bookkeepers’ chairs, but who were active in ath- letio competitions, have gone through this school with flying colors.” Just then a rookie fireman missed the window sill with @ scaling ladder weighing thirty-five pounds, He was Juggling the snaky ladder under dit- ficulties and the Chief spied him. “Up, up, up I tell you, boy,” the Chief yelled at the top of his deep Ceéitic voice, The youngster on the ladder was fired with renewed determination to hook the sill above him, and when he did the six-foot Chief, in a fatherly tone, exclaimed, “That's the boy; go on up now and ‘make’ that next window.” “Do they ever quit, Chief?” was the next question, “Now and then a lad comes here and he has no idea, of course, what he is in for, He stands the gaff for & day or two and then he doesn’t come back. Of course he absents himself without leave and is dropped, but there are others who give vent to their feelings right on the spot and they are man enough to say #0, Time and again some of the boys, tired and more stage-frightened than. actually nervous, have told me to my face: “To h—— with this, I left a better job than thi “What do you do with them?” “Well, I make a set to keep just as cool as they are hot and I have told run for the rookies, their minds. They see the others going through the stunts and then, feeling more ashamed than angry, they decide to carry on, I could name lots of good firemen to-day who, if they had been permitted to, would have walked out of this job before they were actually in It.” Sliding down the back wall of old Fire Headquarters 1s the least relished of all the manoeuvres by the pro- vationers, Clilef Larkin said he ex- plained how the ambitious blueshirts are taught to take two turos of the roof rope in the snap hook of their life belt and with the rope grasped in their right hand, they “hop off" over the cornice and slide to the giant net below.> When carrying @ comrade down on the rope, three turns instead of two are taken in the rope and the momen- tum of the ‘‘fall’’ ts controlled by the pressure exerted against the rope which slides between the rookie's right thigh and right hand, In that way he ‘breaks’ the speed of his body in des@ent, The only enjoyment, howeve: rope sliding is that gained by the kiddies in the New York Foundling Hospital across the street, ‘The youngsters have @ dally matinee from front porch chairs every day the fire school Is in session, Shooting the life line ts another phase of the school important in the Jumping into The Life Net. 9 Po) ap training of men to save life and property. The gun carries a projec- tile to which is attached a light but strong cord. The projectile lands on the roof of the six story head- quarters building and there it is seized and hauled up with the stouter life rope trailing on behind. Jumping into the life net is rea) and yet is a not @ few of them to ‘Go over there serious part of the course of train- and sit down—think it over—and ing. The men are taught to poise don’t get up till I tell you,’ and would properly and to “throw their feet you believe it, they invariably change out first® measuring the distance accurately and landing in the net so that the softest part of their anatomy will cushion the shock. Then again saving the “lives” of dummies by carrying them over the shoulder while descending ladders or ropes is but another subject in tlee course of study and instruction. “Would you believe It, some men have never seen a fire alarm sent in from the street box until they are showed how to do it here in the school?’ said Chief Larkin, yes, they never even saw somebody else send in a fire alarm and have no idea CHIEF LARKIN o the Clarr to “STRETCH and +f how It Is done. And, so that every man of them when he leaves this school can truthfully sey that he pulled a fire alarm box, I make every one of therff do it." The Chief then stepped over to one of the new style ‘doorless"* alarm boxes and required each rookle in line to turn the handle to the right until the bell in the box indicated that the alarm was on its way. The probationers are also required to study the fire alarm telegraph slg- nals used In the fire service, of which there are over sixty different kinds, They must learn what a second alarm sounds like, how many strokes in a test signal, what an ambulance call 1s, how to summon the water tower, and moreover, théy must learn the signals sufficiently well to be enabled ve them and chalk them down ekboard for verification. Some of the rookies, like the aver- age citizen, think a second alarm is simply the turning of the alarm box handle twice instead of once, Not 80; a regular system of signals, almost as complicated as the Morse code it- self, must be learned and learned ac- curately by each “prob” fireman be- fore Chief Larkin gives his official 0.-K, The Chief said the army and navy have brought a different class of young men Into the service, especially in the School of Instruction, He de- clared he can tell the chap with mil- itary training as soon as he sees him and speaks to him, ‘They are dis- ciplined, which is so essential in this fire fighting game. “They don't talk back, they do us they are told, they are courteous and remember what q Cour “START WATER™ How NewYork 5 Fire Fighters"are Trained ‘Thrilling “‘ Stun ts’ they are told. Of course, this is no indictment of others who were not trained in the military service, but the army man or the sailor has the edge on his comrade when it comes to executing orders, and that's what counts.” They do not make “smoke eaters’? in the School of Instruction, for swallowing smoke is something that cannot be taught—It must be acquired with time and with experience. The probationers are taught, however, to adjust smoke masks properly and what to do in emergencies under con- ditions that might threaten them from ammonia fumes, gas, chemicals and just ordinary smoke, but, in the language of Chief Larkin himself, “eating smoke 1s something to be acquired under circumstances dif- ferent from those that prevail in the school.” “A man’s ability to labor under con- ditions which make breathing hard, cannot be tested here. In the first place, the Civil Service Commission's physicians and our own Fire Depart- ment surgeons pass upon his organic make-up and he comes here presumed to be possessed of a stout heart, strong lungs and tough muscles. It wouldn't be fair to subject a recruit to a smoke test in the school. That test is best defermined by his com- pany commander in whose charge the probationer is at night time when hé is on actual fire duty. There the “yellow” will show under conditions that are bound to bring it out if the boy doesn't like smoke." In the present class of twenty-five who are going through the schoot.are two fire chiefs: John J. Cullinan, As- sistant Chief of the Morristown, N, J. Fire Department and George C. Kor- ber, Chief of the Bloomfield, N. A Fire Department. They are taking a post graduate course in fire fighting and when not attending the Officers’ Fire College, they spend extra time in the School of Instruction, going through the same routine pursued by the probatiemgrs. 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