The Cook County herald., 1901-12-14
KNOW THE BUILDINGS
.FlREMEN ATTACK FIRES TO THE
BEST ADVANTAGE.
A An Ohcial of the New York Department.
Tells of the Advantages Of an Accu-
rate Knowledge of Big Buildings
This requires Study. :.

The rules of the department" said
New York fire department official to
{ the New York Sun, require all cap
talns rs OF engine and truck companies
to inspect regularly at intervals of
three months all buildings of a public
or $semi-public character within their
respective districts. The buildings
thus inspected include hotels, theaters,
hospitals, asy1ums, stores and ware
houses, public halls and so on; prac-
hcaily all buildings, in fact, except
private dwellings, and in this way the
commanding officers of companies be-
come acquainted with the interior of
every important building, within their
district, boundaries. The captain of
tlre company knows where the stair
ways are and the elevator shafts if
there are any; where the fire escapes
are, and the doors and windows, and
other openings, skylights and so on.
An short he knows the inside of the
building and in case of fire in it he
does not approach the building as a
stranger nor lose minute hunting
around inside to know what to do or
where to go. He knows all that before
he gets into the building at all, and,
according to the floor the fire is on,
he goes straight to it without a mo-
naent's doubt OR hesitation or loss of
tizne. It might be, for instance, that
the officer in charge at a fire on the
third floor of some building would
want to get at it from some more ad-
vantageOus point. He would, from his
precise and accurate knowledge of the
buildings thereabouts, know just how
to 80 about it in the best possible way.
Say this fire is in building at I
sneh-and-sueh a street. He sends men
into No. 3, telling them that ten feet
back from the top of the third flight
OF stairs they will find recessed place
in the wall, where formerly there had
been a door through into No.. and
WHICH would be the quickest and easi-
est spot to break through, the wall at
th&s point being thinner The COM
pany commander knows the buildings
in this district thoroughly, and as
matter Of fact the battalion comman-
ders and other higher officers of the
force know the buildings within the
larger area of the district over which
they have supervision correspondingly
we'll. The rules of the department re-
auire that on appointment into the
service fireman must serve three
years at least below Fifty-ninth
street, in the course of which time, in
whatever rank he may be, he must
get some knowledge, in a general way
at least, of the buildings in the most
dense1y built-up part of the city. When
a man is promoted he is more than
likely to be sent to some other COM
pany than the one in which he had
been serving. And as assistant fore
man, Or lieutenant, of a fire company,
he is required to know the buildings
within the district of the company to
which he is attached. A captain pro-
noted to be battalion chief may be as
signed to another battalion district;
but it may be one in which he had
previously served in some capacity,
and comprising some company dis
tricts Of which he had gained exact
knowledge while serving in it as an
officer of company. Of course he
sets himself to learning all the other
company districts and if, indeed, he
did not know them already, he soon
comes to know his battalion district
thoroughly, and he keeps up his
knowledge of it by constant study
With such training and experience,
supplemented by constant inspection
of new buildings, it becomes possible
1or one man to know the whole town
thoroughly; as, for example, Fire
Chief Croker knows it. It is said of
Chief Croker that he knows every
building downtown; and it would no
doubt be literally true to say Of him
that he knows from personal observa-
tion,. inside and out, every structure of
Importance on Manhattan Island.'' -