Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-03-03
How the New York Firemen Live.

The bunk room OF an engine house is an
ordinary bare iloored room, containing
many iron cots, and Il wardrobe behind
each cot. In No. rs house the walls are
as bare us the floor; but both are kept
scrupulously clean.
The iircmen may be said to listen in
their sleep. They sleep in their red shirts
and under clothing; their big rubber boots
stand by the side of the beds, with the
trousers fitted over them, and when the
gong sounds, the trained men wake, jump
from their beds, and almost mechanically
slip their feet into the boots, pull up their
trousers, fasten them, and rush down the
stairs. Each mans coat and hat is in his
the horses dash along the busy streets, the
liremen finish dressing.
Their speed in the daytime will seem
almost as wonderful when it is remember
ed that they are all apt to be at work or at
play in remote parts of the building. The
alarm is rung while one man is washing
windows upstairs, another is chopping
wood in the cellar, II third and fourth are
playing checkers in the sitting room. Il
fifth is in the street in front Of the house,
another is asleep and so on. No matter
what the circumstances, by night or by
day, .he engine thoroughly equipped, rolls
out of doors within fourteen seconds after
the alarm. Every man shares in the
rivalry that exists between the various
companies. and the apparatus that has the
reputation of being frequently the first ut
a fire and the earliest at work is an object
Of envy in the department.
The liremen favor the supposition that
the sudden shock Of the great gong's
stroke at night, when all are asleep, is
injurious to health. They say that it acts
violently upon the heart, and has produced
sudden death in some instances. On the
other hand, they say that the mild tone of
the little gong is so gentle in its action
upon the ear and mind that beyond the
loss of sleep occasioned by it, it does no
harm. The men declare that it is not the
volume of sound that awakens them.
They say that the smallest gong made
would serve AS well as the biggest
The horses stand in stalls in the rear
end of the main room. There is nothing
remarkable about these stalls except that
they are kept absolutely clean, and are so
arranged that the horse faces the front
door, Their litching straps terminate in
iron rings, which are fastened to the side
of each stall by bolt SO ingeniously con-
trvcd that the same electric current that
sounds the alarm draws the bolts and frees
the horses The moment they hear the
stroke of the gong they jump from their
stalls and clattcr over the resonant floor to
their places, under the shafts of the tender
and on either side of the engine pole.
Although nearly all these tremcn have
homes of their own and families in them
they are allowed but seventy-two hour,
absence from the fire houses in each
Imonth. This is exclusive of the three
hours II day allowed each man for his
meals. This seventy-two hours is divided
into three whole days in the case of sub
ordinatcs, but the officers, who are allowed
the same time, may take their hours wher
and how they Please, whenever they desire
to absent themselves. They are obliged
to ask permission because it is rule of the
department that only two.thirdS of the
quota of men in each battalion may be
absent at one time. The record is accur
atey kept at headquarters.
Firemen are obliged to do patrol duty
like policemen. They have regular hours
and regular hours of service, day an'
night, and this patrol duty is performed b,
every man in his turn. 1t is said that tn,
object of this is to discover fires, but th,
liremen say that this theory is not war
ranted by any material rresults.-New Y0rI
Sun.