Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-08-27

| i'm an enpine-h house to be caught stand
| inc between the horses and the appar-
! aims when an alarm comes. Inc
horses do not take the trouble to dodge
ANYBODY who happens to stand IN tneir
way. All this has been going on wnlle
the gong was still striking q. Before
il is done striking the horses are mar
messed TO the engine and tender, every
man is in his place, the driver i'll his
scat holding the reins says ready" the
doormsn throws open the doors, the
horses start off with a dash without
waiting To be told, and in 4 second the
apparatus is off. The doorman waits
inst long enough 10 slam to the doors,
then swings himself to his place on the
! tender. If he can catch it, and the COM
many is started. The engineer stands
! on the ash-bOx at the rear OF the en-
CINE, The torch he holds in his hand
Is small pine stick wrapped around
one end with cotton soaked in kero-
| sane-oil, In hole bored in the eX-
! treme end are three patent fusee
! matches that no wind can blow out.
| The furnace j. filled with shavings and
| dry Virginia pine covered with camel
| coal. As soon as the smOke-stack II
| clear of the engine-house the engineer
| touches the friction matches against
| the rapidly-reyOlving wheel, and in
| Stantly has a blazing torch. he inserts
/ this i'm the furnace among the shaylngS,
| and before the fire il reached he has 6O
/ or 20 pounds of steam to the square
/ inch, or power enough 10 throw water
| 10 the roof of any but the very highest
buildings.
The engine WAS all ready, and might
easily have left the quarters before the
gong stopped giving the alarm, but that
would not do. The signal % showed
that the fire was ut Fulton street and
Broadway, which is in that engines
district. But if it had gone on one
stroke further, and struck -, 1t would
have indicated the that the hre was,
perhaps, somewhere up IN Broome
street or elsewhere beyond the ground
covered by that engine. So the COM
pany always has to wait till the gong l.
done giving the first signal. If 1t strikes
for one of the stations OF the district the
engine is all ready, and goes TO the hre
a. we have seen. Ii 1t strikes Tor u To-
cality ont of that district the horses are
unhitched and the men return to their
places. This gives a good deal OF extra
work To the tiremen, but 1t cannot well
be avoided, for if they waited I'LL the
gong stopped ringing, and then found 1t
was one Of their calls they would waste
the 10 OF Is seconds required for prepar-
alton, and every second may be worth
dollars and lives at the beginning OF a
fire. As the officer put it, "every sec
ond gained at the outbreak OF a fire Is
worth an hours work when 1t gets a
good Roadway" Just how long it takes
To man the engine and have II ready TO
leave the quarters after the signal Is re-
ceived il matter of some doubt, ana
must always vary with circumstances.
When the men are asleep in bed or up
i'm the sitting room in the third story, it
sometimes takes as long as Is seconds to
have everything ready TO start. But
that is not considered quick work.
Fourteen or - seconds, under such cir
cumstanceS, would, perhaps, be fair
average. Some companies pretend TO
lO il i'm b seconds; Others IN 5; Others in
10. The relefity has increased very
much within Il few years; 50 rapidly Ia
fact that ifit continues in the same
ratio for q few years more the engines
will he ut the fire some seconds before
the alarm is given at all. The men OF
each company know so well just what
signals they are to respond to that they
do not need to look at the printed
schedule hanging in a conspicuous
place on the wall to know what their
numbers are. And not only do they
know their own numbers, but the num-
hers all over the city. Let the gong
strike IS, or 6S2, or I224, or any number,
and they will tell you in an instant that
! the fire i in NinCty-third street, or in
4 MorriSania, or ut the Battery, or wher-
ever it happens to he. The first alarm"
/ call out several enSine~, TWO nook anu
/ ladder trucks, ana the necessary tend
Ell. second and third alarms bring
more engines and more hook and lad
! der trucks. 1t is popular fiction that
a general alarm" calls together all the
engines in the city. This is mistake,
as any one may easily see by thinking
about il for minute. 80 many engines
would only b. i'm each others way, and
all the rest of the city would then be
unprotected. If there are not enough
engines out To control the fire after a
third alarm has been given, Others are
/ selected and ordered out at the discre-
/ ton of the Chief. For this purpose every
signal box is provided with Morse tel
/ egra phic key.
The department is divided into 10
| battaliOuS, each with its Chief, and each
| company has its foreman. Whenthere
| is a fire the first officer To reach the spot
/ is in command till his superior arrives.
7 This system works admirably. y few
minutes after the first engine reaches
| the fire the battalion chief arrives in
/ his light buggy. He then takes COM
mand until the arrival of the Chief of
| the Department. The chiefof battalion
/ goes to every fire in his district, and the
| chief of the Department goes to every
/ fire south of Twenty-thiId street on the
/ first alarm, and to every fire, anywhere
| i'm the city, on the second or third alarm.
| The shouting and hallOOing of orders all
died out when the old volunteer Depart
ment gave up the ghost. All orders are
now given by signal, with the arms by
/ daylight and with colOred lanterns at
night. so well are the signals under
stood, it is not necessary for an officer
to say word from beginning TO end of
fire. Every man at the fire has his
place and goes To it. Each company
has foreman, an engineer, an assistant
engineer, and eight pipe-men. The fore
man and his assistant take charge OF
the apparatus, the engineer and his
second keep the engine running, and
the pipe-men carry the hose wherever
then are sent. The steam is raised to
the necessary height in the boiler in the
shortest psssible time by keeping the
water constantly warm, and generally
with few pounds Ofsteam on. This is
effected by small stove in the base
ment, imme diately under where the
engine stands. \ fire is kept constantly
burning in this stove, and around the
firebed is coil of pipes, which are con-
neeted by gas-pipe with the boiler.
The heat from the stove keeps the water
in the pipes in constant circulation, so
that steam may be raised very quickly
The connection between this stove and
the boiler is so arranged that when the
engine goes out of the house the pipes
slip apart automatically, without requir-
ing any time. Every morning the fore
man of each company sends report to
the chief of his battalion, giving the
number of men on duty, the number