St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-17
FRIsCO's FIRE CRANK.
A Young Man of Leisure Whose
knowledge Is Useful to the De-
partment.

A Young Man of Leisure Whose
knowledge Is Useful to the De-
partment.
| San Francisco Examiner.
| Alexander George. of 729 Suffer street.
attends more fires than any other man
in the city. Day or night, whatever the
weather, he responds to the alarms.
| George is twenty-four years old. lie Is
not in any way connected with the ire
department., but he has a private wire
| to his room, and the bell at his bedside
rings with the bells of the engine
houses. No alarm is sounded that ne
does not hear.
At night when he retires he leaves
his clothing so arranged that it takes
but moment for him to dress. HIS
| saddle horse, feet young bay. IS Kept
| in the stable at the rear of the mouse,
with saddle suspended above 1T and the
| bride at the animals head. The alarm
of fire brings George to the stable with
unfailing promptness; the horse,
trained to the bell, stands ready, and
away they go.
Five years of this volunteer service
| has made George an expert in every
| LhiHo NOhONLAtt5 Inv NV NNPNAN-
He knows the location of every alarm
box and every hydrant in the city; he
can tell just what engines, hose wagons
and trucks will respond to any alarm,
with close estimation of the time each
will use in going to the fire; he under
stands about the pressure of water Ill
every part of the city, and he has an
accurate knowledge of the safeguards
or lack of them i'll the public buildings.
Furthermore, he has kept full statistics
of all the fires in the past five years,
and can relate the incidents Of most OF
them.
His experience is recognized in the
| fire department. A badge has been con-
| ferred upon him by the chief. and last
year he was engaged toprepare eighteen
maps showing the locations of the ell
CINE houses, fire alarm boxes and n.y.
| drants. These maps are used by all the
| companies. George, beardless. boylsh-
| looking fellow, is modest about assert
| ing his peculiar knowledge, but he ad-
| mltS that he MADE special study OF
everything relating to fires. He says ii
is fad with him. To a question
whether he could mentally locate every
! hydrant in the city, he replied that ne
| could.
And so, if you know where the fire
is, from your knowledge of the engine
houses and the time required from each,
| you can tell just where each engine will
go?"
No; the firemen can go wherever
| they choose, out | know where they
ought to 20. Sometimes when L arrive
first at fire | go back and tell the
driver of an engine, if he happens to
be new one, where to find the by
| drant."
"Where is Box 1912"
bryant and Sixth" answered
| George, without an instant's hesitation
There is a hydrant close to the box
another at Bryant street and Morris
avenue. and another at Bryant and
Clinton streets. Those are the only
ones within 400 feet. 1t is a rather bad
locality. There are barns and great
many wooden buildings about there, and
lot of tenements on Clinton street
The alarm from there calls for engines
2, 4. 6, 9, 10 and II, and for truck 3. No
272 There is no such box No numbers
are used with two figures alike"
| Various other numbers were given
and the answers were always correct.
| BY referring to his pocket diary
George was able to state that in foul
and half years of his services, from
July l, 1883. to Jan. l, 1898, there were
2,029 fires. He had not counted
those OF this year, but his books contain
the record of all. The fire of Sept. 9
1888, which started at Howard and Main
streets and swept three blocks, he de
elared to be by far this most extensive
that he has known. From memory he
repeated the circumstances OF it, even
| to the minutest details.
"How would the department. go tc
work if one of the upper stories of a
high structure, such as the Mills or the
Croker buildings, should get fire?" was
| the question.
ION. that's simple enough. They
| But the fire bell rang out. In just
| seventeen seconds George anu his horse
disappeared around the corner OF SUIT
ton and Taylor streets.