Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-12-07
OUR FIRE DEPARTMENT.
A ,Gsneral .Tarnout-TriaI of ali The
Engines.

At the early hour of half past one, the differ
ent engines were brought out and put in work
ing trim for the general practice and trial
skill, ETC., to come off at three oclock precise
y. The Fountain" No; /, got up steam on
Market Square, in order to ascertain whether
| she was all in working order. During the trial
there, one of her ft.es bursted, and the fire had
to be extinguished to give the engineer an OPP
portunity to replace it by new one, which
consumed great deal of time, and necessarily
the general practice did not take place until
about four o clock. On arriving at the place Of
trial. near the old Bosworth mill, at the foot Of
cumberland street, the different engines got into
position, and at given signal, all went 10 work
with will, and Fountain No. 2 took the palm
in bringing the first water. The second on the
list was the Reliance No. A. Then the Foun-
tain No. /, and finally Niagara No. 8.
The companies then made trial of distance
in throwing water, with the following result :;
Reliance, No+4 s107 feet !; Fountain, No. 2, 81 ;
Fountain, Nov J. 163 Niagara No. 8, III.
None of the engines reached the distance they
have heretofore, and the entirs trial proved very
conclusively that this should only be the be-
ginning of regular system of practice. No
doubt, in the event of fire, all of these COM
panies would do good work yet, should ill-fate
ever visit US in the shape of fire of some magni-
tude we fear, without more systematic tire
department than We now have, our city would
be laid in ashes. That as brave fremen as ever
lived compose these companies has been fully
demonstrated In the past ana ali tnaL Is neeueQ
is to train them to systematic action.
In coming to the place of trial the grade be-
ing rather steep, the Reliance, No. !. got the
better of the men, who were forced to abandon
her and let her take her own course. After
running down the street at full speed for some
distance rock turnedher course when she ran
against the curbing and stopped
The Hook and Ladder Company was repre-
sented by only two members and conscript.
namely, VIM. Wood (the foremanl and Mr..
McLain. Before time for practice Mr.. Wood
left, leaving Mr.. McLain in charge. with the
hope that some of the members would arrive in
time to assist him in the management of the
ladders, and in bringing the trucks back after
practice. But not q member made his appear
ance, and Mr.. McLain was forced to take six
little boys, all that he could get at the time, and
bring it back. This is not as it should be, and
we would be pleased to know how this company
can expect to do any effective service in the
event of FIRE, if this sthe way they attend at
practice? It requires training to make effective
Hook and Ladder men, as much so, if not more
than fremen. We are glad that there still
remain few faithful ones in each company,
who are always present at practice, and gener-
ally the first at fire. Yet there is too great
lack of interest among the members of all the
companies for the safety of the city. We trust
that will not remain so, and that deeper inter-
est will be taken in the matter.