St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-22

and towns took upon themselves the work Of
putting out fires just as they took upon them
selves the employment of policemen to keep
order in the streets, and to arrest bad people,
both big and little, and the f1remen are now
public officers, just as much as the police
men, and the old leathern bucket is repre-
sented by a splendid machine, worth thou
sands of dollars. Every American city takes
pride in its fire department, and it would be
unfair to say that this or that department is
better than any other. But as New York is
the chief city of the United States, its depart
ment may be taken as an example The New
York fire department includes 400 men, di-
vided into ffty-seven companies, and uses
300 horses and 100000 feet Of hose. Every
invention proved to be good for putting out
fires and saving life is in use, and the new
water tower and ffreboat are equal to any,
thing of the kind in the world. The tiremen
are brave and hardy, and have often shown
great heroism. The horses are carefully
trained, and show almost human intelligence
In rushing to their places when an alarm Of
fire is give The readiness of these horses to
hasten to the post of duty might, indeed, we'll
be initiated by men and children, too The
alarm of fire is sent by the fire alarm tele-
graph which covers the entire city with it's
wires, there being over one thousand miles of
wires, and over eight hundred alarm boxes
where an alarm Of fire may be given. The
moment the alarm is heard whether night or
day, the ffremen are ready in an instant, and
the horses, being released from their stalls
by the same electric signal, are in front of the
engine in twinkling.
The harness, which is suspended above,
drops on their backs; they are harnessed
while the echo of the alarm is still in their
ears, and the engine dashes out for the scene
of the fire, every man in his place. AS the
engine plunges along the streets the engineer
who is on behind, shovels in wood and coal,
to make the fire hotter and increase the head
of steam, ard by the time the engine gets to
the scene, everything is ready. The hose
cart dashes up at the same time The fire.
men quickly fix the hose on the nearest
hydrant, and the water is playing upon the
flames in stream that quickly puts out any
ordinary fire. If the fire is a big one, more
alarms are sent out, and more engines called,
and every engine in New York can be called.
if needed.
All the flremen work in the most orderly
manner, amid the smoke and heat. If their
and face almost certain death they obey If
ordered up ladder to rescue some man or
child from the flames they go. Indeed, it is
not necessary to order the fireman to- posts
of danger, for brave firemen are always will
ing to risk their own lives to save the lives of
others. Thanks to this thorough system of
fire service, the city of New York has been
free from great destruction by fire for many
past. The fremen have to fight the flames
on water as well as on land, and one of the
most striking scenes that can be witnessed is
that of the freboat putting out a fire on some
vessel in the river. At night such spectacle
is very startling, with the ruddy glare OF the
flames upon the waves; and the darting
tongues of fire reflected against the back