The evening world. Newspaper, June 12, 1922, Page 18

WY WX = ESS SSTISSTZS TCHS? IF 4 NT Z 4 * -ASS A a Ip Y, Ai LISTS THE EVENING WORLD, MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1922, A % Hillsdale, N. J., Young Women Run a Fire Department of Their Own and Are Training to Wrest the “‘State Championship’’ From the Men! _ By Roger Batchelder. & 4 HE past few years have seen a decided siump in the tra- Aitional supremacy of man, Nowadays we never flicker an eye- brow at the thought } of @ woman lawyer, a woman doctor, & woman subway guard (still in ac- tion in the Hudson tubes), a woman / cop, & woman member of Congress, a ‘woman Mayor, or a jurywoman who ‘@its up all night and then goes home + to get breakfast But one civic activity hitherto been inviolate by women has become a memory, in so far as the male monopoly Is concerned, and will shortly, we prophesy, have as many Women on its rolls as any of those | which we spoke of in the first para- » raph. | Hillsdale, N. J ) department. Though only two weeks have passed ‘since the town fathers dectced that women could take their place with | men on the fire ladder, ov at the | Mozzle of the hose, the whole town is | proud of its female smoke-edters, and is willing to bet that before long every town in the country wil! follow its example, and not merely allow, but even urge, its women to don the fed helmet and prepare to subdue ay unruly flames when the occa- | sion arises. | I went to Hillsdale, an hour's ride 4 trom New York, to if there really H ' which has , has @ women's fire ‘was anything .o the report that the Women of the town were getting ready to compete with the men for j laces on the roster of the several fire com- | punies. First I asked a small boy when I fhted from the train. “You betcher,”’ he assured me. ‘The proprietor of the leading drug- store likewise declared that Hillsdale Yeally had women for firemen. He Sent me back to Assistant Chief Block, who is station agent when the fire @ong is inactive, and Chief Block went @ven further than that. “We most certainly have," he as- serted positively, ‘Now you just go across the common and talk with Capt. Theodore I. Haubner of the chemical @ompany. He can tell you all about It."" At that point I began to get a good Mea of the variety of town to which T had come. It was similar to many Which one sees in Jersey beyond a 20- ‘mile radius of Jersey City. In back of the station was the town square, | with its soldiers’ monument (still glo- | tlously bedecked with Memorial Day tributes). Beyond that was the main Toad, ‘along which stretched, on the 7 tartier it; dozen or fifteen shops Of the town. The side streets had com- fortable houses, almost entirely Screened from view by profuse foliage and leafy bushes. Some might call it “a restful-looking place.” About half Its menfolk commute daily to New -¥ork and New Jersey cities, The rest Ihave loca! business or farming inter- And that is the sort of town which ( Bolds the world’s record for laying hose, as I latet learned, and has juat Smashed all precedent by declaring that while woman's place may be in the home at certain hours, her place fe on the fire-truck as soon as the gong rings. 1 then went over to Capt. Haub- Mer’s store, and he soon confirmed tho opinion which [ had already formed that every one in Hillsdale was a confirmed firebug. Not the variety of bug which sets fires, but that which has the time of his life putting them out after they have started, and pre venting them before they have ha chance to begin. Capt. Haubner con fessed that }e was once a New York reporter, antl that a good part of his job consisted in chasing the fire en- gines around the Tenderloin, At that time he caught the fever and he has never got over it. He and Mire Chief John EB. Butenshon are respon- sible for this “Let the women help put out the fire’? movement. “We want to have a woman fire- fighter in every homo in Hillsdale," he sald. ‘and we have already made a start whi as Caused more Interest in New rsey than any election we ever had And then he told me why and wherefore. There is an old tradition it seems, that a woman, when a fire starts, will throw the mirror out the window, carry the feather mattress carefully down stairs, then telephone her husband in town and ask him to call up and tell the firemen that th. house is burning up. That never held true in Hillsdale not by 8,000 darnsights. But you get the point, nevertheloss, Men hav always said rather loftily, “What do: a woman know about fire-fighting!" And then, with several pats on the chest, “That's a real man’s job.”’ As a result, the women of Hillsdale, like the women of Larehmont, Ely. Nev, or Pingping, China, have ul ways had the idea that when a kettle of fat falls into the stove the first thing to do is to get a pail of water and throw it on the fire, thereby, by the way, spreading the flames all ever the room, The proper thing to do Is to ¢ hod of ashes, a box of sand contents of a few flower pots ake a the hrow any of them at the base of the flames if a home extinguisher isn't handy and then call the department. But women rarely do that, because the men who work the hose and take care of the big engines In the volunteer department have never thought of telling about such incidentals at home. Moreover, out in Hillsdale, where every man is a born and brought-ap volunteer fireman, they have huge metal rings at various points of the village, which one strikes with a metal hammer to announce a fire. One blow, for instance, means that the fire is near the station, and there are a dozen other signals which will send the apparatus to other purts of the town. But it has been found that the average woman, knowing little about signalling, will strike the métal ring steadily until she hears the en- wines coming. The result is utter confusion; for the firemen, counting fifty-six strokes when twelve is the highest $n record, must go from one end. of the town to the other to find out where the fire Is. Chief Butenshon decided that all this was the fault of the men, who didn't explain such affaira at home, As a starter, he enrolled eight high school girls In his department and told them that they were on the town books just 48 much as he was or their fathers were. They*were real smoke- eaters, he asserted, and any one wh declared differently should come to him for correction. Teddy Boscher was made Chief and Buster Wandell was appointed Assistant Chief. ‘Then there were Elizabeth Gosman, Rose Pisacano and her sister Nettie, E Manahan, Eleanor Willse and Franc Willse, At first some of the veterans were lt when, after the the girls were able Inclined to ar first drill three to attach a bh toa rant, turn on the water and hold it with ninety-five pounds pressure no joke, That was something that hitherto had been regarded as a job, and one Which only uld do speedily and efficiently I found Mis: Pisacano Mrance room over the Fireman’ ing for their ed Gosman, Edna Willse In the Hall rehe imencement exerelses, “And what do you think of being a full-fletiged fireman?” I asked Mise Gosman, a pretty young lady whom 4, \e Ww . » and B- Dae pomeine Directing the hose, carrying 90 Ibs pressure ant PHOTOS BY FOTOGRAMS' Asst Chief’ “Buster” WANDELL no one would regard as a smoke- eater, “T like it first-rate,” she admitted, “and we have done a lot in these first two weeks, I realize that it will take some time before we can beat the men, but we already made a good start. Capt, Haubner then remarked that the older boys were about to join the department, and start a rival organ- Jeation, “And we hope to beat them) in the annual meet of the volunteer firemen at Hohokus," put in Miss Willse “And three of us can handle a lar line of hose,’ added Miss cano. Further questioning brought out the fact that these young women can alone handle a fire engine and put out a fire, One of them is an expert driver, two can take care of the Ind- . and the rest are proficient as “hosemen.”? Every one in Hillsdale hopes that they will not be called upon to do this, Nowever, There are usually enough men to man the apparatus, but on several occasions the “man-power” have Chief “Ted” BOESCHER if of Women’s Fire Samm | | Dept. Hillsdalen.J Elizabeth GOSMAN has been lacking. Then the women, who will answer all calls, will be on hand, fully trained and equipped to step in and do their part, The older women, Wives of the commuters, are expected soon to join the departinent under the tutelage of their younger sisters, and become skilled in the very latest methods of putting out a fire. But this is the ri “frewomen drive.” menfolk L.tok, “Ted” BOESCHER. 1 ¥dna MANAHAN cli | GOSMAN Frances V\ ; ellie PISACANO, Eleanor WILLSE Rose PISACANO, Buster’ WANDELL and Rost PISACANO coupling the hose have always been good fire-fighters, but they haye never thought to ta over their preblems at the supper ta- bie. These women, and the Boy Scouts, who have recently been a tre+ mendous aid to the firemen, wilt surely take home what they are learn- ing by pructice They will tell the whole family, from Grandpa to three- year-old Jimmy, that when there is a fire, some one should try to put it out, and some one else should cal; out the department in proper fashion. The methods of putting the fire out, and the differences between varlous kinda of fires, will be broadcasted after a few meetings and drills. Thereby, tho prevention of fires will be taught in every Hillsdale household, and ‘frst aid’? lessons will be understood. After i: short time, no one will get excited when a fire starts; he or she will know exactly what to do. There is going to be much comment on the women firefighters and theit work when the New York and New Jersey Volunteer Firemen's Associa~ tion has its convention on Saturday, July 8, the last day of Hillsdale’s Old Home Week. One of its organizers, Henry J. Werner, who was Chief of Hillsdale in 1913, and President of the organization for four years, brought the party to his home town this year, Rut it was not merely on that account that Hillsdale was recognized as tha logical meeting place Take out your watch and then read this In 1916, when official watches werd timing the competition, the Hillsdale Fire Department won the world's reo~ ord for hose-laying at the Hohokus race track. Its members, with a runa ning start on the engine, rode a quare ter of a mile, coupled 150 feet of hosq to a hydrant, ran out the hose, ad~ justed the nozzle and turned on th¢ water—all in 41 seconds. In 1917, under the same conditions; they did it in 87 seconds; an last year, with a standing start, and all men 26 feet be+ hind the engine when the piss hot, they were ready, for-water In 57 seconds, Ana other world’s record wag broken. The Woman's Fire Departs ment, according to the opinion of every one in town, is go- in gto follow precedent. Ii it does it will be a hummer, Cy