RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30364, 13 February 1964, Page 21

RANDOM REMINDER

A WORD FROM CHICAGO

We have not, to the best of our knowledge, ever had any dealings at all with a publication called “The Chicago Firefighter” and we don’t even know whether it is a cyclostyled sheet issued weekly or a glossy, art paper annual. So when, the other day, there came in the mail an extract from it, the firm conclusion is that it was sent by a Christchurch fireman, who wished perhaps for the public to know the burden he has to bear. It is just possible that the sender, whoever he was, might have been prompted by

a desire to see the fireman, who has been in the papers a lot lately—because of this and that —given some kindly treatment. It must be confessed that the contents of the piece reproduced from the “Firefighter” struck a sympathetic chord. It said, in effect, that when a fire engine is delayed briefly in traffic, people say it took them 20 minutes to get to the fire; but if it attains a speed of 40 miles an hour on the way, the crew is said to be reckless. Similarly, if a floor has to be opened to get at the seat

of the blaze, there are disparaging remarks about the “axe squad.” If they have to use a lot of water, it is claimed that they are doing more damage than the flames. And most tellingly, if they lose a building they’re no good; if they make a fine save, “the fire didn’t amount to much.” There was much more, on the same lines, in the extract. And if it is true, it is true too of far more people than the firefighters. The world is full of people who are never understood, or appreciated, except by the psychiatrists.