The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-05-07

"A. e.. 6i3 and %. ard IL the alarm frsn
% 81 Two men were abxsnr. IL nvs oasss
oniy were these msp abesnt without sub
ss,sutss 10 take their places. anS ~
the records that tarss mea missed two out
Of The 10 aisrms and four men missed
one alarm eac4 In II cases all OF the
regular nrsmsn were present and In only
n W cssss out Of 20 did the company have
less than IA men ready for Instant service
ana in the other cases they never fell be-
low ten men for duty.
al call that fair record" said the
chief. "Hhss ron oensider how these
alarms come In and take into considera-
tion the fact that thsss men are sm-
ploysd By msn who sometimss object TO
their leaving their work to 90 TO free,
hut that tsey do report for duty pronpt-
" ard almost invariably, or elrs provide
q substitute who will report for them,
call this case, which Alderman Thoin-
rs undoubtedly refers TO, ~ very fair
showing 10 say the least.
alderman Thomas says In this inter-
view, that the numter of men now In the
departnAsat 10 not required a. they were
once when the old reservoirs were In SER
Woe. because the Ii6es Of hose stretched
are NOT a. long. Ne also compares the
coat OF maintenanee OF the present de-
psrtment with other years long ago 60
show that there has been . great increase
In the expsnfes Of the flre department =
'As to the statement that the lines Of
hose stretched now are not So long a. they
we're onoe, Wish to say that excepting
In the very heart or the badness ssctipn,
tbs hydrants are rs far apart - we're the
old reserEoirs, and IL is often Drcessary
to stretch lines fully a. LONG ~ were re-
quirsd In the rold times As for the
business distriot,ths frsmsn now have to
take greater chances than they did in
old times.' They have more i've and
six.stsry buildings. more elevator wells
and light wells to dsal with, electric
wires BY the saore and many other obsts-
Giles to overcome that the rrsmen Of 'old
times' did not meet with.
"As to the incrsss, sxpsns, Of MAIN
tenancs Of the hrs department now and
In the old timfs,' the city reports will
show that there hes been little increas ,.
though the department IS much larger
and much more expressive than 1t then
yrs
LET Us refer to the year 1884 for ex-
ample. Andrew J. Cumminss was then
chief Of the department.. Yhsy had the
SINE number Of men TO company that
We have now. That year the Depart
ment responded to 40 alarms. The cost
Of maintenance was S35. sy6. This las
rear the department responded to see
alarms and the ocss Of maintsnance Of
the department wss not nearly 40 large
ss 1t was In ls73-74. with the IRE boat,
chemical engine. combination wagon on
the hill, ladder 8. hess and the Deer
ing hes, con,panirs In addition. to what
the department cor sisted OF In lS7S-N.
''In ls74-76 when Frank Merrill va $
chief, there were Il fire alarms. the call
men were paid s76 and sec. and the cost
Of maintenano,'wss $si,sa5..o outside Of
the salaries. or more than We have ssksd
for for maintenance for this coming
year with more apparatus to cara for and
over five times ss many alarms to re
spond to.
elm 1s76.77 the pay Of the cali men wss
$40 and s66. the alarm re responded to A
and the cost OF maintenance $l9.0i4 90.
~ believe that these figures will show
there has been some Improvement iu
the management Of this department.
The incres 81 In salaries hss been largely
covered b, the increes I'd number OF psr-
manent men.
az regard the plan of Alderman Thorn
IS to out oil four men from each engine
company as sep backward. mes.
dangerous thing to do at the present
time. With a call department we mu
have q large number OF men in order to
ir sire s,me of the number being on
hand promptly when s'oonds count VI
to thoussnes OF dollars eaoh.'