Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-01-01
.FlRE LAooIEs AZ RtaHT


A vote, OF Confidence Passed ny, me
board OF CommIssIoners--But It Was
at - ..star' Session aud Leeks snsP'-
cious. e{ss - s sc 50 Y
The effort to bring the Waterbury Ere
department into bad repute on account OF
the disastrous fre'in the Lawlor and Platt
buildings. is not meeting with much sue
cess and tina work received quite set
back last night. when the FIRE commits
sioners met and passed vote of CONT
dense in the efficiency of the department.
and placed itself on record with the state
ment that in the opinion of the board the
IRE was handled in an efficient and Ca
pable manner" There is quite differ
enos between what a man does know and
what he only thinks heTknows, and as
much of the faultfnding on this particular
occasion has been done by people who
were tucked away in their little beds.
while tie department was battling with'a
fire which had gained considerable head
way before an alarm was given. IL is but
fair to assume that good deal has been
said on the subject by people who don't
know much about it.
Chief Snagg Is quoted as the first to
criticise the department, but the chief
must have had different opinion for each
reporter who called on him ~ Mr. Snagg
| told a reporter of the DEMOCRAT on the
| morning of the FIRE that the department
was handicapped on account of the condi-
ton of hydrants and the difficulty in
closing the blinds on the Plat block.
| Everybody knows that there always has
been a disposition on the part of on
lockers to criticise the work of the depart.
ment, especially when a hre happens 10 dc
&C nsiderable damage before being brought
under control. and the commissioner
must have considered the aggravating de-
lays which occurred on the morning of The
East Main street fire, and for which the
department could not reasonably be held
responsible. when they passed the follow
ing resolution in executive session:
Voted, that this board does hereby ex
press its confidence in the chief engineer
and the assistant engineers and officer!
and members of the Waterbury fire depart
ment, and it is the opinion of the member
of the board. from personal knowledg'
and from information otherwise obtained
that said tre was handled in an eficien
and capable manner"
| Pre6xed to this vote was the following
which showed that the chiefs report o
the action of the different hose companie
could not have been very unfavorable, TO
1t is but reasonable to believe that tn
board was governed in its action by Chic
Snagg's statement:
"Chief Engineer Snagg reported upol
the conditions and circumstances sur
rounding the fire in the Lawlor and Plat
buildings on Friday morning, Decembe
IS, 1894. and the manner in which tn
same was handled"
, The only thing in, connection with tn
meeting of last night with which anyon
| en- a. ia
executive session. The public wants I
know what takes place at the meetings @
the municipal boards. They have a rigt
to know and the only means by which thi
: information can be conveyed to them
. | through the columns of the newspaper
) 1t is charged that the papers print to
5 much about what takes place at the NEE
ings of the city boards and that as a resu
+ the city often loses money. This ma
sound well enough coming from a men
Der OF one of the boards but there al
those who think that the city has lost mol
: money on account of things that Il
9 papers never have printed than it b
: through any reference to any intended n
n ton of the municipal boards. 1t has bee
4 said that there are more executive session
e of the city boards in Waterbury than the
are IN any other town in the state, and Il
result is that the public has but a vagl
idea of the action taken at the vario'
:, meetings of these boards. many of Il
u members thinking that the public b
/" no right to know what they are doing al
that it would not be capable of compr
bending the action taken should it Hppe
in the papers.
Before the board went into execute
session the monthly bills. amounting
$685. SO, and the payroll of 81 ,060, we
= ordered paid.