The times., 1897-04-25
The First Firemen's College Soon
to Come Into Existence.
PROMINENT MEN ITS FOUNDERS
Headed by Simon Brentano, Num-
ber of Progressive Business Lead
ers Will InaUgurate New De-
parture, Which Is Likely to Prove
Very Popular.


cples and methods OF ting flames in
regulation college. 1t will be just as
thoroughly collegiate Institution as is
| the place of learning, where men are
taught TO become physicians, and equally
methodical with the course pursued by the
student of law.
The College for Firemen is to be eStab-
lished in New York by a number OF busi-
| ness men of wealth, headed by MIR. Simon
! Brentano, wellknown for the interest he
| has displayed for years in all matters per
tanning To fire departments and the never
ending battles with the flames Mr.. Bren-
| tano has preached this doctrine-the ne
| cessity for a Iiremen's college-for some
years, and now his long and earnest eff
! forts are about To bear fruit There has
| been i'll existence for a time so-called
| school for firemen, which was only half
| hearted affair, and never, except in very
| small degree, fulfilled its mission of edu-
cation. This new departure, however, will
| be a geIfUne college, and not an ordinary
| school, a fact that should be borne in
mind when considering the Undertaking
The new institution Will have regular
| faculty, which viii be composed not or the
| orIsts, but of men to whom fighting fire is
| familiar, who have made it their life work,
! and who know every detail Of the proper
methods of procedure, dating away back to
| the time when ''the boys used TO run
with the machine tits facts, practical and
| simple, which the students of this place or
learning will be taught. There will be ac-
tual Illustrations of just what is TO be
done, and the cause will be shown which
leads TO the necessity. There Will be a
room in which small houses miniatures, OF
course will be fired in various ways, and
the students will be shown exactly what to
do under any and all emergencies which are
likely To- occur, and which the fireman must
face in the pursuit of his calling.
The embryo fiTemen will not handle
a garden hose, but a regulation siX-inch
pipe, with "a stream Of water coming
through it OF the sort that makes the great
hose squirm and dart about like snake
in the street, when the pipe accidentally
drops from the hands OF the pipeman. 1t
will be no child's play. The curriculum
of this college il not only founded on fact,
but a solid actuaIity. These are the things
that will make firemen, say Mr.. Brcntano
aud his associates. They hold that eX-
perience is the teacher whose methods
make the strongest impression, and so they
are going to make this proposed institution
one of which experience will lbethepresident,
and fact, realism, and emergency the
three leading professors
Mr. Rrentano, using the New York fire
department as a basis OF Consideration, said
to the writer:
while W have what is perhapsthe finest
fire department in the world, we lack one
important essential. We have no fire
literature and consequently no means OF
perpetuating the experience Of one fire
chief TO his SUCCESSORS Take, for instance,
Chief Bonner. He is man, who, by pTHC-
tice and experience, is as competent
fireman as lives. Under existing circum-
stances, when he dies his experience
dies with MIN and his successor has to 20
all over the same ground and learn allthat
he knows
For instance, it is one thing for firenen
in "a country town 10 handle a fire i'll
big factory building, when perhaps they
never before and never will again have such
a fire To handle. 1t might be somewhat
difficult to find firm willing To saCTi-
flee factory building Just TO Illustrate how
such fire might be handled, whereas it
would be comparatively easy matter to
erect what might be called a property
factory" and by this illustrate Just how
such a fire could be handled.
such a college once star tcdin New York,
where fire chiefs from all over the country
could come and be Instructedin the best and
most practical methods of handling fire
on any flooror anypart Of a building, would
soon be productive of similar colleges in
other big cities throughout the country.
The result would be that every fireman in
the land would have through his prepara-
tory instruction an experience equal TO
that of the best metropolitan fire fighter.
Another fault which this fire college
would remedy Is that through which a
standard Of examinations might be arrived
at which is impossible under the present
conditions. At present the eXamin alton of
the would-be fireman is, to a certain eX-
tent, a stock set of questions. One or
two men on the examining board may be
practical and ask practical questions. but
tney cannot ask such general questions as
is necessary to prove that an applicant for
a position is competent. Such questions
can only be propounded by those familiar
with fires in all their different phases and
the method of combating them under all
sorts of conditions.
IF these examiners had recourse to the
personal experience of various fire chiefs
throughout the country for years past they
could at once suggest questions which
would promptly demonstrate the fitness
or unfitness of the candidate for all
branches of the service. This idea of a
college for firemen is so nearly q com
pleted fact that number of gentlemen
who are interested in the matter as much
as myself have decided to undertake with
me the establishment of such an institI-
tion in the very near future. 1t will he the
first institution of Its kind in the his
tory of the world, and, once established,
it's graduates, carrying certificate of
graduation from the New York College
for Firemen, will beyond all question be
the men who will direct the work of the
forces fighting the flames, whether it be
the lonely hayrick of some farmer miles
from town or the big syndicate building
towering 900 feet above the street, with
its thousand offices, all at cost of
$1,0O0,000
I'VE need college where those who
wish To adopt the profession of fireman
can receive practical, competent and sys-
teInatic training in the science and methods
of fire extinguishment. We need college
where the individual experience of the fire
man, the Improvements and progress in the
service can be authoritatively promul-
gated, so that it's teachings and its prac-
tice shall prevail, and give equal ad-
vantage to all departments to obtain, en-
large and practice the best art of fire ex-
tinPuiShing We need n cOIeOe that will