The herald., 1894-04-18
A FLREMAN'S LIFE.
new navy

far &c concerns the absence OF that de-
stroying element which Q wiser head
than ours pronounced "a good servant
but bad MASTER" Much OF this i'm
munity from FIRE, however, is due not
alone to the organization Of q well-dis-
ciplinsd firs department in our city but
also to the fact that, in the greater por-
tion of Los Angeles, the buildings are
substantially constructed and therefore
not liable to 9 spread of Oonfagration.
The FIRE at Santa Cruz on Saturday
last caused nearly q million dollars
Of damage, yet it is gratifying to realize
that no loss Of life accompanied 90
wholesale a destruction Of property. AS
contrasted with the loss OF life at some
recent conhRRrations in eastern cities.
it shows exceedingly good luck. The
burning OF the cold storage building on
the worlds fair grounds Q few months
ago was accompanied by loss OF life
the details of which were absolutely
sickeninO; and the destruction OF the
Davidson thester in Milwaukee week
ago was another frightful holocaust, the
recital of which was enough to bring
shudder OF horror to the frame of any
humane listener.
The life OF q fireman is enc necessarily
involving a great deal of danger, but il
need not be made the subject OF reckless
display of valor or undue exposure to
peril. The late Capt. j. G. Ainsworth,
tttha fathar of Rad0uAo o.. La :. .o,-.a
times called. was a man who had been
in his earlier life exposed to a good deal
OF danger in the navigation of unsx-
plored inland rivers, and he used to
say: There are two kinds of brave
men-thoss who can keep cool under
trying emergencies and meet perils when
they come to them, and those who are
never afraid, for the simple resuon that
they do not know when they are in
danger"
There ia too much bravery of the lat
ter class manifest, not only in the organ.
iSAtion of fire departments, but slso in
the promotions that follow such organi-
cations. A fremsn's life should not be
risked by an engineer in charge, so as
either to invite death or to render escape
impossible. Fighting an angry frs is
one thing, and futile efforts to save a
doomed building are another. In the
cold storage fire at Jackson park q lot
OF men were needlessly exposed by send
ing them up on an elevation without
adequate means OF escape, while in the
Milwaukee theater copflagration they
were piled upon a roof which fell in be-
meath them, carrying downward the
helpless victims OF somebody's criminal
carelessnees or ignorance. 1t was the
business of the fremen to stop the
spread Of the conhagrstion and not to
building already doomed.
1t was in this qualification that the
late David scsnnell, 60 long chief en-
gineer of the San Francisco department,
showed his superiority to all his prede-
cessors in Office. He was no braver man
than Hopposs, Whitney or Lane, but he
waa more intuitive in his perceptions OF
the exposure OF his men to danger. The
chief engineer OF Melbourne, after the
disastrous George and George" fire OF
1889, was sent all over Europe and
America to examine into fire depart
ments and the management thereof. In
his report to the city council on his re-
turn after an absence OF eight months,
be pronounced San Francisco's fire de.
fenses entirely inadequate to the size OF
the city but commended Chief Scennell
as the best engineer of department
that he had met in q tour Of both conti-
nents.
1t is evident that there were no
"Dave" Scannells in Jackson park at
the cold storage fire, nor in Milwaukee
at the Davidson theater FIRE OF one week
ago. The terrible losses OF life which
characterized those two coniagrations
have cast gloom oves the cities where
they occurred; and one OF the most
painful reflections connected Herewith,
is that they we're the result of needless
exposure of brave men under the COM
mand OF an ignorant or careless officer.
These are cases which verify Talley-
rand's maxim that "a blundsr is worse
than a crime"