Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1875-10-02
OUR FIRE DEPARTMENT AND
WATER SUPPLY

izing the Carson Firemen into thor
oughly effective department, the lesson,
costly as it is, will prove itself to De no:
wanting in good results. /. is needless
10 repeat our reasons for fsvoring strict
organization and the establishing Of
thorough discipline; for all who are In
any manner interested IN the question
understand them already. The history
of the fremen of the United States is
replete with instances OF opposition to
the restraint which an effective organi-
zation necessarily imposes. For years
New York city was at the mercy of a vol
unteer fire department. It's members
were mainly young men who took part
in the service for the settlements it
afforded. That these volunteer tiremen
were brave, arduous and etEcieE: is an
admitted and notorious fact. The New
York fireman twenty years ago was the
model for the young fellows who affect
ell the experiences Of der uasnine' in
all lesser towns. The objection to this
cumulative spirit was that it showed itself
more emphatically in copying the faults
of Nose" and Jake" rather than the
virtues Of less picturesque members OF
metropolitan engine companies. But
even the volunteer FIRE department Of
New York came at length 10 recognize
and act upon the necessities of Orgapi-
zation and discipline. When the paid
system now in vogue, and which is con-
temporaneous with the general intro |
duc.ion OF the steam FIRE engines, came /
to supersede the old volunteer system,
it found it admirably organized and sub |
ject to o very effective and satisfactory |
code of rules for its own government. |
Under this organization the department |
held itself subject to the mandates Of o |
Board of Fire Delegates, the members of !
which were selected from the several |
companies. These delegates legislated
upon all matters looking to the internal |
workings of the department, and, We
believe, elected the chief and assistant |
engineers. This departmental machin-
cry was afterwards copied by the San
Francisco fremen and by other depart
ments in some Of the larger cities and
towns Of California. But, effective as
the volunteer departments were under
this self-imposed discipline, the neces-
sites, in large towns. of the eompleter
efficiency and more reliable discipline of
q paid department, was considered, de-
ba:ed, experimental upon and finally
adopted. To think of going back TO the
volunteer way of doing things would be
to contemplate the abandonment of Or
der and system for disorder and con-
fusion.
We have cited the above to show that
those who have had the most to do with,
and the mos: to lose or gain by, the
efficiency of fire departments have al
ways steadily moved in the direction of
perfected organization and discipline.
We cannot understand why any men,
Der of the Carson Fire Department not
beside himself with boyish love of the
license of an unrestrained and irrespon-
sible freedom can feel opposed to an
immediate reconstruction of The depart
ment upon a plan contemplating the
election OF and investment of supreme
authority in Board of Delegates or
some such central authority. We are
glad to hear that some movements are
on foot to bring about an organization.
We trust they may prove effective.
Connected with this subject of reor-
ganization is the cognate question of the =:
location of the engine-houses One rea- I
son why Gil three of the engines took
possession of one cistern and attacked
but one side Of the fire on Wednesday
morning was that all the engines are
housed at points south of the place
where the FIRE occurred. If one of the
engines had been kept up toward the
railroad, it would have first found water
at place from which its line of hose
could have been brought to bear on
TuAy's house. If the engines were SO
housed IS that when they start for fire
they would reach the place of confiagra-
ton from diferen: points, they would
always attack the fire from different no.