The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-05
INTERESTED IN FIRES.
New Workers. Disappointment at Never
Seeing Apparatus Leave the House.

new horRerb D1AAppOlntment at Never
Seeing Apparatus Leave the House.
Il always 20 to a fire when it's anywhere in
my way and often when it's considerably out
OF 1t: everything about the Fire Depart
ment interests me immensely. Just as l sup
pose 1t must. in more or less degree. every citi-
zen" said q New York man. But though I
have been to many fires 1 have never seen the
actual start Of but one. This was in n bust
ness street, in the summer. In the quiet hours
Of early evening, when it was still light. but
the street almost deserted.
Il saw a policeman looking up i~ntently at
the upper story Of u building and then | saw
him scoot around the corner and look up at
this building from the rear. Then he ran
back to the front again and looked up there.
This time he could see. and I could, too. for
that matter. Just the taintest trace of smoke
coming out Of the top edge of one Of the upper
windows: you never would have noticed it in
the world II you hadn't looked for it. The po-
liceman made a break for a fire box on a lamp
post right on the corner. opened II and pulled
the handle.
We'll. the result was something great. In
about n minute. as it seemed, n hook and lad
der truck came around the corner Of the first
cross street above with the horses on the
jump. making straight for that building: and
before it had quite got there, while the horses
we're Bull Tunnluk, TWO men jumped OH, one
with an axe in his hand and the other with a
fire extinguisher strapped on his back. and
ran ahead on the sidewalk faster than the
horses were going. The man with the axe
smashed the glass in one side OF the door OF
the building where the fire was with one
whack and the man with the fire cxtinguisher
on his back hoped through the opening and
then the man With the axe. with about three
eines standing at neighboTinG MIGRANTS up
there was u hose wagon standing right in front
Of the door. lust in front Of the truck horses.
and the man with the axe hadn't much more
than smashed the door open before there was
q map walking through 1t with q hose over his
sse eSan eo g stfs,rh pnTIc II lines me- T Tnsn e the GT9wd
but that's the only one / over saw the actual
And while l have often seen fire apparatus
dashlng along, the street on tho way to II fire
tual starting Of an engine or u truck. al
ways keep my eve on an engine or n truck
s aE%S' a waen truck RRaiRs houses nj ! ha Time See and d i maaY s sni
again. and have been there when they hooked
up r on an ac aIasIm, r 9Tt never net " when zen an engine or
first grand plunge. | came pretty near il.
TT was en- a hot day in summer. and I was
coming down an uptown avenue in a horse car.
Jogging along easy. only two or three people
seesaying slowly on the brake. and every.
body drowsy and comfortable. And so in the
course OF time we came along 10 the front of
atruck house gu the avenue. with its doors and
windows all Wide open to get what air there
was stirring. On the ground floor you could
SEQ right down through the house. There
was II man on duty at the desk. but that was
the only sign OF anybody's doing anything
around the house. There were n couple OF
men sitting by the windows upstairs Keeping
cool. and q man tilted back In .chair on the
ground floor inside the house against the side
OF the door. and tho horses were droopine their
heads and nibbling at the feed on the floor OF
their stalls. Everybody bat tho man ON
guard at the desk was Just taking
things as easy as he could. kept my
eye on the house until We got asst 1t,
and. then | turned and looked to the front
again at our own horses browsing along and the
driver seesawinR on the brake. when sud
denly i heard an electrifying Ker-lamp! Ker-
lampl. Ker;lampl, Ker-lamp! Looking
back. | ga the truck coming.
There wasn't anything sleepy about the
outfit now. l couldn't tell which OF the men
on the truck was the man l had seen tilted
back In the chair at tho door. nor which we're
the men | had seen at the desk and at the win
dows upstairs: but they were all very keen,
alert looking, men now. and the horses that [
had seen with their heads down in their stalls
were coming now, like cavalry horses IN a
old horse ,ar like q thunderbolt and dlsap-
peared down the avenue. The whole thing oc-
cupied but a very brief time, but it woke us all
up very thoroughly.
AM that's as near as I ever came to seeing
thS actual starting out Of q FIRE apparatus.
missed 1t. l guess. by about q hundred feet" |