FROM YANKEE HIGHWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11783, 12 October 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

FROM YANKEE HIGHWAYS.

No. VI.

[BY MARTHA W. 8. MYERS.]

[WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD AN"D At'CKLAXD WEEKLY NEWS.]

THE FIRE BRIGADE IN SAN FRAN-

CISCO. Being fully alive to Auckland's needs in regard to a properly maintained and modernequipped fire brigade I hied me under the courteous escort of one of the State. Commissioners to an exhaustive inspection of San Francisco's system. This is, by the way, reputed to be the most efficient of any in the States. lis point, of perfection is reached through the exigencies of the city's needs: —" 'Frisco" being the largest woodenbuilt city in the union. In this feature, Auckland is analogous to it. and should "go and do likewise."

'Die five brigade is so finely organised; composed of so complete a body of stalwart, disciplined men, braving daily danger, that it may be favourably compared to our standing army; professional fire-fight-ers called into hourly requisition. Subject to searching physical tests ; drilled and disciplined; individually endowed with courage and cool-headedness and an admirable esprit de corps, it stands on a par with the military, and like it is divided into organised companies, battalions, and brigades under allccted officers-.

As now constituted (under the new charter), the Fire Department consists of a Board of Commissioners of four members — these, appointed by the Mayor, tire men of successful business experience, one retiring each year, so that three experienced Commissioners are always in office. Then there is a secretary, a chief engineer, one first assistant chief engineer, one second assistant chief engineer, seven battalion chiefs, 36 engine companies, eight hook and ladder companies, seven chemical companies, one water tower company, two monitor battery companies, two relief engine companies, and employees of the office, corporation yards, and stables, numbering all told 470 men, of whom 432 are uniformed. The equipment consists of 53 steam fire engines, 53 hose waggons, one combination hose and chemical waggon, nine chemical engines, 11 hook and ladder trucks, four monitor batteries, two water towers, 24 officers' buggies, six hydrant men's carts, two breaking carts, 10 delivery waggons, two supply waggons, one crane neck truck, one horse ambulance, two hose carriages, one hose cart, 50 Babcock hand chemical extinguishers, and 69,300 ft of cotton hose.

Five hundred and seventy-three thousand four hundred dollars (£114,680 sterling) was the amount of the appropriation to the Board of Fire Commissioners for the annual maintenance of the Department. Next year additional improvements, calling for a fire boat for the protection of water-front properties and new engine-houses, will be effected by an added tax levy. At one time, as recently as 1889, insurance companies, through the State Insurance Commissioner, contributed £3500 odd pounds sterling (17,790 dollars) to the Department's maintenance, but under the new charter this has ceased. The lite marshall's salary is paid by insurance companies, who themselves have a capitally organised and equipped lire patrol and salvage corps, which is seen dashing to the ",cene of the fire in the wake of engines ind horse carts. To convey some small idea of the lavish annual expenditure, I note some of the salaries paid- Each State Commissioner (a, representative citizen) receives £240 (1200 dollars) per year, the chief engineer £800, his assistants. £600, captains and lieutenants of the engine companies £280, drivers of engines, hosemen, stokers, tillermen, and truckmen of hook and ladder companies (the ordinary firemen). £192 per year ; draymen, watchmen, and hostlers, average £150. . . . Generous wages indeed, commanding the best, possible service, and raising the standard work of the Fire Department to its maximum degree of excellence. This is as it should be, protecting as it does that which is dearest to man, life and limb, home and sustenance.

Applicants for fire service must, not be under 21 nor ovoi 35 years of age; at 60 they are retired with a, pension. Must pass Civil Service examination. Must pass medical examination for sound health- and required height and weight. Must not drink nor gamble. Must not smoke while on duty. Firemen live in. the engine-houses of their particular district, each company being composed of captain, lieutenant, engineer, driver, stoker, and five hosemen, all ready to answer alarms any moment in the 24 hours, for they are not permitted to engage in any other business or calling; their entire time, attention, thought, and energies belong exclusively to the Fire Department. A continuous watch is kept in the ap-paratus-rooms of all houses of the Department, day and night being divided up into "watches" by the battalion chiefs of each district. Firemen must notify the captain of the address of their eating place and residence.

None of the active members of the department are political appointees, but rise from the ranks on sheer merit. Engine-houses are built compactly of brick and stone; the lower floor, on an even level with the street, contains engines and hose curls; stalls with great powerful horses, perfectly conditioned and groomed, standing ready for duty, their harness hanging immediately above the shafts of the engines attached to pulleys, connected with the electric apparatus, "which drops down into position simultaneously with the alarm. On the same instant the heavy chain across the open entrance (never closed day or night), falls, and the engines, horsed, harnessed, and manned, dash out like a lightning streak to the scene of the fire. Not the sixteenth part of a second is lost; everything jerks electrically into place. And, the men?

Let me imagine that the alarm has been sounded at night, hours after the men have gone to sleep in the second storey of the engine-house—a dormitory with beds, chairs, and wardrobe for each 'man. ranged in a single row the length of the long room. The fireman bounds out of bed, jumps; into overalls that stand tucked into his mbher boots, slides down a big steel-plated pole to the first floor, jumps on the engine or the hook and ladder truck, claps on his helmet which hangs on the engine, and is whizzing to the fire before an ordinary mortal man can rub his sleepy eyes:! From the time the alarm sounded to the time the engines rushed out. only 18 seconds have ticked !

The helmets worn are astonishingly light in weight, yet serve as excellent protection against fire, water, and falling pieces of stone or timber. They are manufactured of aluminium (a metal remarkable for its lightness and for its resistance to oxidation), covered with red, white, or black leather (varying with rank), deeply grooved or ridged, this corrugated surface causing any heavy destructive fragments to glance off, thus preventing injury. Alack! in parenthesis I mind me of the weighty brass helmets suffered on the heads of Auckland's brave volunteer firemen, and I groan in sympathy for them. Will not some Samaritan inform our worthy City Fathers that brass is a powerful conductor of heat? In the matter ot proper fire escapes, the buildings of San Francisco are amply supplied. A municipal ordinance, rigidly enforced, demands that every structure, whether of wood, brick, iron, or stone, of three or more storeys in height, be supplied with approved tire-escapes. These fire-escapes consist? of iron ladders leaching to the roof, to which a large iron pipe for water is permanently fastened, and iron platforms, which reach a window at each storey, attached thereto. Then, too, the proper number of entrances and exits, according to the sixe of the building, are insisted upon, these being regularly inspected by an officer.

At the drill tower (a seven-storeyed wooden building serving as an object lesson), I witnessed with no small degree of excited interest the practice of the fire brigade. Called out in squads of six, at the captain's whistle the men—strong-muscled and agileperformed every act necessary to the extinguishing of fire and the rescue of life and property.

Around their waists they wore large canvas and belts, supplied with a huge steel snap-hook, or clamp; around their shoulders and tinder their left armpit was wound a close coil of 125 feet of cotton woven rope (the rescue line); in their hands they held pompier ladders, made of the tough, elastic wood of the ash tree, 17ft long, with footpieces on either side 16in apart, and at the top a strong steel hook, sharply notched to fasten securely in the window-sill. The men stood alert and soldierly, waiting for the captain's whistle. The moment it sounded the pompier hand-ladders were raised in the right hands, the books clasped the win-dow-sill above, and three men mounted speedily on the footpieces, stepping into the windows, when the next, three men mounted. -Another whistle, and the first three raised their ladders to the above storey, set the hooks in the sill, and again mounted, the other three men following. This continued with splendid precision at each whistle, till the seven storeys were climbed and the roof reached- Next, rescue ropes were uncoiled at. the signal, each man in turn, lowered himself speedily and safely from the roof to the around. Then two men descended on the rope to illustrate the rescue by a fireman of an inmate of a burning building. These rescue ropes are supposed to be fastened to some stationary object in the room; when this is lacking* the fireman drives a zigzag toothed iron spike (carried in his belt along with a small hatchet) into the iloor, and thereto scientifically fastens the rescue rope. Next was given an illustration of lifesaving, when the fire-escape, the rescue rope, "and all other means fail; when the victim must jump for his life. A dummy ; |uade of .canvas and leather, shaped and "weighted like the human body, was dropped from the fifth-storey window, and carefully caught in the recently patented contrivance for that purpose. Eight firemen standing on the pavement below held this leathercanvas lined and netted pad of large dimensions, which was held in place by a circular steel rod, and was supplied with springs like a. mattress. Che dummy descended, was adroitly caught, and bounded into the padded net. Then a real live fireman jumped from the "fourth-storey window ; and landed safely on his back, rebounding a bit from the force of his fall against the | springs. ! For transmitting orders from the street to the upper storeys or roofs of burning buildings, the chiefs employ a megaphone, which funnel-shaped instrument carries the voice most clearly. A clever device for sending a lifeline to the topmost storey is by means of a Springfield ride! A rope is "actually shot out of the gun! I saw it done successfully three consecutive times. A string which connects with the rope required is tied to the arrow of a Springfield rifle ; the fireman on the street below loads, takes steady aim at the high roof, and fires; the arrow darts to the roof, carrying the string with it, and with this the "lifeline is hauled up. It is astonishing what schemes and devices are contrived to develop and perfect the Fire Department to the end that it may reach the highest efficiency. Next it was supposed that the roof of the drill tower was afire. Well; in exactly one minute and 32 seconds 100 ft of hose was earned to the top, a distance from the ground of 75ft, and a run of 150 on the ground to reach the building. Extension ladders were erected, the highest hoisted most dexterously to the roof, all in the wink of an eye. It was splendid! I thought of Auckland's bucket brigade, and wiped away a commiserating tear. One important point must be noted. This is the fact that the large iron pipes belonging to the approved fire-escapes are exactly of the size and circumference to fit the hose belonging to the fire engine ; these, by brass nozzles, are promptly connected, and the great pressure of water pumped in. Fire-alarm boxes, occurring every two or three streets apart all over the city, are painted bright scarlet, and within easy reach. The key, kept at a grocery or drug store, can be obtained by anyone wishing to give the alarm, which is accomplished in half a second by merely inserting the key, pulling down the hook in the fire box, and , letting go. Should more engines be needed the second, third, and general alarms are subsequently sent from the Department's main office.

There are upwards of 400 fire-alarm boxes in the city, not counting the many others located in hotels, theatres, public buildings, and private houses. Beautiful to look at in their build and brightness, formidable, massive, yet with noble outlines, are the fire engines.

Chemical engines carry two large tanks each, holding one hundred gallons; carbonic acid gas, producing pressure, being generated from the jar in each tank, containing muriatic acid, surrounded by 200 pounds of soda (if this is not scientifically correct. I can only humbly offer apologies for technical ignorance, purely feminine, to my male professional readers). These, chemical engines differ from the ordinary steam engine in that they do not supply the pressure of water, but furnish instead! this pressure of carbonic acid gas, which smothers the flames, and is responsible for less destruction than that of the water engine.

What a thrilling, a memorable sight it is to see engines, trucks, hose waggons, hook and ladder carls, with spirited horses and valiant men, dash down the streets, whizz round the corners, gongs and bells ringing with them all the way, traffic dividing on each side to clear the road for their precipitous flight! It is great, thrilling! Thus ondeth the first lesson on San Francisco's admirable Fire Department, and there is yet more to tell. Rouse up, Aucklanders, and do likewise! It is within your province, and your powers ; your civic pride, no less than your laudable protection of home and property, should be sufficient incentive. Why! do you know that Honolulu has a well-equipped and well-disciplined Chinese fire brigade, which has built its own engine houses and bought its own engines and uniforms from money raised by subscription among its own countrymen. And tliey are only Cliinamen! What then can, must, and will British Aucklanders accomplish? '!'