The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1898-09-17
usRoss WHO FIGHT FIRE.
rheir Risks Increase in the Ratio OF
Our Progress.

fheir Risks Increase in the Ratio OF
Onr Progress.
Jacob A. Ris. author OF "How the
Other Half Lives aud other studies
Of tenement-house life, contributes 10
the Century, in the series of Heroes
Of Peace" an article ON Heroes who
Fight Fire. Mr.. Rlis says of the fire.
mnn;
Ills life Is too full of real peril for
him 10 expose il recklessly-that Is 10
say. needlessly. From the time when
he leaves his quarters In answer TO an
alarm until he returns he takes "A RISK
that may AT any moment set him race
to face with death in lis most cruel
form. lie needs nothing so much as II
clear head; aud nothing is priced 50
highly, nothing puts him So surely in
the line of promotion; for rs he ad-
yances in rank and responsibility. the
lives Of others, rs we'll as his own,
come TO depend on his judgment. The
act of conspicuous daring which the
world applands IS oftenest 10 the fire
man matter of simple duty that had
10 be done In that way because there
was no other. Nor is II always, or even
usually. the hardest duty, as he sees 1t.
1t came easy Ia him because lie Is an
athlete trained 10 do such things, and
because once for all II is easier TO risk
ones life in the open. In the sight OF
ones fellows. than 10 face death alone,
eanght like rat in Il trap That i
The real peril which he knows TOO well,
but of that the public hears only when
he has fought his last flglr, and LOST.
How literally our everyday security
of which we think. II we think of II
at all, as mere matter of COURSES
built upon The supreme sacrifice OF
these devoted men. we realize ut long
Intervals. when disaster occurs such
rs the one In which Chief Bresnan aud
Foreman Rooney lost their lives three
years ago. They were crushed 10 death
under the great waiertank In 24th
street factory that was on fire. Its sup
ports had been burned away. An eX-
animation that was then mnde OF The
Naicr.tanks in the city discovered eight
thousand that were either wholly I'M
supported. except by the roof-beamsi
or propped on timbers aud therefore a
direct menace, NOT only to the tiremen
when they we're called there, but daily
Ia those living under them.
Seventeen years ago the collapse Of
Broadway building during IRE con.
WINGED the community that stone pillars
were unsafe as supports. The fire was
In the basement, and the tiremen had
turned the hose on. When the water
struck the hot granite columns. they
cracked and fell. and the building fell
with them. There were upon the roof
at the time dozen men OF the crew
IF Truck Company No. / chopplng holes
for smokc-vents The majority chung
10 the parapet. and hung there till res.
cued. Two went down Into the fur
mace from which the flames shot up
twenty feet when the roof broke. One,
Fireman Thomas j. Dongherty, was a
wearer OF the Bennett medal. too. His
foreman answers on parade-day, when
his name Is called, that he died on the
field of duty" These, at all events, did
not die la vain. Stone columns are not
now used in supports for buildings Ia
New York.
So one might go on quoting the perils
Of the ilremen as so many steps for
ward for the better protection of the
rest of us. IL was the burning OF the
st. George Flats. and more recently of
Manhattan nu "a In urh tgH "a Hnzntt
men were disabled, that stamped the
average fire-proof construction as
faulty aud largely deluslye. One might
even 90 further. and say that the fire
mans risk Increases IN the ratio OF our
progress or convenience. The water
tanks came with the very high build
lngs. which In themselves offer prob
lens TO the fre-iighters that have not
yet been solved. The very air-shafts
that were hailed as the first advance In
tenement house building added enor-
mously TO the fireman's work and risk,
rs well as to the risk of every one
dwelling under their roofs by acting rs
20 many huge chimneys that carried
The fire 10 the open windows opening
upon them in every story. More than
half of all the fires In New York occur
in tenement-houses. When the Tene-
ment- House Commission Of 1904 sat in
this city. considering means OF making
them safer and better. 1t received The
most practical help and advice from
the firemen, especially from Chief Bres-
nan. whose death occurred only few
days after lac had testified a. wit
ness. The recommendation upon which
he insisted are now part of the general
tcncment-house law.
Nppdad His IRi1ht Hand