The sun., 1897-11-23
LONDoN FIRES AND NEW xoRK
FIRES
An Interesting Cornparison or the Methods On
the Two Greatest Towns on Earth.


the Two t'rcntcst Towns on Earth.
To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-S;r. Iondon's
destructive fire offers such n splendid opportu-
nifty OF contrasting her methods OF fro protcc.
tion with those in vogue In American cities that
i feel the chance should not pass by without n
few comments from one who finds interest in
subjects Of the kind.
As understand the cable reports in sntur-
days papers, tho fire brigade were notified oral.
ly OF tho outbreak OF this fire. Tho report reads
as follows:
Tho policeman who nrst saw tho flames when tho
gas engine exploded. blew his whistle loudly for AZ.
sstance but blast after blast failed to rench the ear.
for which they were intended. lie did not dare TO
leave his post. and he had other means OF giving
tho alarm but with hia penny whistle.
Several minutes passed before the cry for helm was
heard. When aid did come. the nrst policeman was
despatched to summon the fire brigade.
Thon the despatch goes on to say:
1t was twenty minutes after the policeman nrst
blew his whistle before the lrst re engine appeared
The delay was unaccountable.
don't think that this delay is so "unaccount-
able when we understand the system they
have In London of getting their fire apparatus
out of quarters.
This policeman probably ran to the nearest fire
station, perhaps three or four blocks away and
notified the officer in charge of the existence of
the fire. There are. I believe. plenty of flre
alarm boxes scattered throughout the London
streets; small boxes with glass door that can
be broken and the alarm turned in from there,
but this officer either forgot these boxes or
thought he could do better by running direct to
the station. for no mention is made of his send
Ing tho alarm from a box. Tho result would
have been almost the same in either case, some
thing like the following:
When he arrives at he ar ot ha os
the foreman in charge He in turn calls down
the commander of tho station and at the same
time rings bell that arouscs the rest of the
fremen throughout the house. The commander
arriving on the apparatus floor sends the
"coachman" after the horses. The latter gen.
tleman proceeds forthwith to the stables in the
rear of the house. and bringing out two horses
partly harnessed. attaches them to the engine
probably manual or hand engine, as they go
| out on all local or first alarms) by fastening
the pole chains to the collars and the traces to
| tho whifi1etrces &c. The rest of the flremen
having come down from upstairs. the command.
er and coachman mount the apparatus and tho
order is given to proceed to the fire.
Arriving at the fire and finding 1t serious
| one. the officer in command sends the coach
man" back with one of the horses for tho
aso to hS is se th9a eth
| have them, in turn. telephone to all the other
| stations Tor reintorcements. This Is also the
| system followed in large fires. 1t can he easily
seen that this fire. blazing away in a building
filled with inflamnabc material and in a mar:
bilty of control before the fire brigade had
| an adequate force ut work, and, to speak in the
away W from "ffeb The cable 81 roport sPi s
prio6a piy ply % wrong in In saying that it was twenty
minutes before ore the first engine arrived" The
ladder pushed by hand, no doubt were on tho
ground before that length of time elapsed. al
n hut 10 hlnt : hat
# took all of twenty minutes to get the frst
steamer" there. So much for the English
Suppose such a fire were to break out in our
bad bad district, say in Ann street, in the neigbbor.
not SO bad perhaps as London,s narrow streets
and alleys, but bad enough. The polio man dis
Mdsd ns dF run I of eSps
alarm box, and there are plenty down that way
and; opening the tside door and pulling down
His hand would hardly be of the hook before
an operator at Fire Headquarters would be
of this box to thirty odd engine houses. the FIRST
tap he gave on this key releasing and sending
he had sent the number OF this box over the
wires once. the thirty-odd companies would be
the second round of the box passed out I six com com
pamies would be on their way to this box.
.. Inc .Gi 9ficer IN command ID Of the first company
stead of sending his Goa lehman " back for re
would simply stop up to this sam.
u
third alarm, have eleven more companies
punched" at tho fire even before he had tho
first detachments fully at work. And know il
wouldn't take twenty minutes to do this and
am confident that the fire, matter how bad il
might look at first, would not walk away from
them"
To prove what claim is possible, let me cite
an actual fire. On Oct. 90 OF this year fire
broke out shortly before noon in an oil ware
house in Platt street. There was considerable
delay in sending in the alarm. owing to the by
ISLANDERS cndeavoring to rescue several OF the
inmates of the building, cut off from escape by
tho flames, instead of pulling box at the out
The books of the department show that the
first alarm for the fire was received at Al
came in at l :45 A. NJ, four minutes later In
that four minutes company htched up five
horses, proceeded to the fire; the officer in
charge saw the magnitude Of the blaze, hastened
to a box. sent in 8. 3-37 lthe third alarm signal
this was received at Fire Headquarters and
sent out from there by hand to all the com
time here.
Hero was serious fire in one of our narrowes
streets. in building full of oil and combustible
materials. surrounded by buildings filled with
stock of a like nature, forming the ideal combi
nation fora big contiagaton land the building
practically all on fire before the alarm wal
that the relief sigma, or what might be really
called the "all out" signal was sent over the
wires at l;24 r M notifying the rest Of the dc
less than two hours a threatening fire wa.
fought and conquered, and that with only d
arimn OF b ne enbre working force of the do
What London needs is a bang.up American
are are alarm alarm telegraph system, set of Yankee
not 30 much "coachman" and more ge
there" and ! don't think she will have any
more $25. 100000 fires. CHARLES I. HILL.
NEW YORK. Now 22.
| Luck Follows Misfortune.