San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-03-05
OUR FIRE DEPARTMENT
NEEDS STRENGTHENING AND
MORE APPARATUS.
Insurance Men are Kicking and
Talking About salvage Corps.
Compliments the CHIEF


lately, among some of the leading
citizens OF San Antonio, regarding the
present fire department, the available
knowledge of the employees, number
of employees, the work they have
done, etc. Some of the fire insurance
men have expressed themselves very
emphstically on the subject and are
talking seriously of presenting the
matter to the city council. A meeting
of the insurance men will be held
soon and the matter will be thorough
ly discussed and steps will be taken
for the better or worse.
1t is also thought by many citizens
that salvage corps should be estab-
lished here to aid in large fires.
In orGer to give the general public
the benefit Of the facts, q LIGHT
reporter called on several prominent
insurance men, for the purpose of
ascertaining their views and has
succeed ed in obtaining the following:
Sim Hart: "Well, think the old
volunteer fire department did much
better work than the present paid
department does now. The losses by
fire have been greater and more de-
structive since the new men went in.
The insurance association of San
Antonio have petitioned the council
to purchase q new chemical engine,
but as yet, nothing has been don g
We need two more steam engines
also. If there is fire near the Aran-
sas Pass depot, the engine from
company No. must 60 all the way
from avenue e, and this is too long a
drive. I was talking to gentleman,
who contemplates locating q large
manufacturing establishment here,
the other day and his first question
was, what fire force have you here?"
1 told him and he seemed aston
ished. There is no question about it,
the town will never grow as long as
we can't protect what industries We
have. A salvage corps Is q good
thing, but we don't need 1t in this
city. Let US get one thing at time"
VIM. Campbell: II did not attend
the last fire and can't say what VAS
done. We want more engines in this
place and must have them. Now
about q salvage corps! l am in for it
and think 1t would be quite an as
distance in large fires"
r. w. Lay: Really, don't like to
express my opinion about the work
ings of the present fire department.,
but will say there should be a change.
1t should be larger. We need two
more steam engines ana one chemi-
cal. San AHtonio is too large and has
too many elegant buildings in 1t, not
this Is done q salvage corps is the
next thing we want. They are indeed
very beneficial. The water-works in
this city are not what they should
be. There are times when only a half
stream can be had from one of the
public hydrants. This was the case
at our recent big fire and 1 think more
good could have been accomplished,
had the water been in good order.
This matter should be considered"
Mr.. Lay also said that the total loss
at the recent fire was about 100000,
and that $65, 700 was the loss to the
insurance companies.
Mr.. s. ID. Scudder, of the Alsm1
Insurance company: Il have just re-
turned from u New York Trip and
know but little of the fire. think
though, that most of those buildings.
being one and two stories high,
should have been saved. I see no
reason why fire department of forty
men can't do better work. The build
ings on Soledad street were stone and
should have been saved. Now re
garding q salvage corpe: 1 think q
good fire department should be had
first, then it will be time to talk about
new feature"
Newt. Nj. Smith, of Smith & Stone;
"The present fire department is made
up of green men and they don't know
what to do while at fire. The
last fire on Houston and Sole
dad streets should have been
kept under control and not
half the damage should have been |
done. In the first place the boys |
never drill. All departments in large |
cities drill regularly and have not |
half the time that our boys have. |
Then again, they don't know how to |
turn q cap on a hydrant. They |
worked at cap for ten minutes the |
other night and gave 1t up. L find
out that they kept turning 1t tighter
instead of looser. This is
poor business. Another thing: |
No matter how close they |
are to fire, they unroll the entire lot
of their hose and then tramp all over
it, kinking 1t In several places. By
the time the water finds it's way
these kinks the speed is
to about one-half its force.
There are many more objections,
good ones too, that can find, but
these are enough to convince me that
the fire department is farce. 1t is
the poorest attempt at fire depart