Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-01-29

lin side and turned in an alarm; then
he hurried his nen and apparatus
back to the engine house. In the
course of time the Berlin firemen ar
rived and put out the remains of the
fire. When the excitement was over
the American was arrested for giving
false alarm in the town of Chariot
tenburg, but, as his nationality raised
a presumption that he was non compos
mentis, he was lucky enough to get
off with a reprimand.
OF course, discipline is necessary to
the well-being and successful manage
ment of every organization, and a fire
department is no exception to the rule.
But military methods may be carried
to excess, even in a fire department.
and the writer remembers a very dis
tressing tragedy occurring in Berlin
as the result of too much discipline on
the part of the firemen. 1t was in
1890, and the fire was in the upper
floors of an apartment house, not far
from the Oranienburg Strasse. Kadel-
burg, the actor, who is well known in
this country, lived in the house, and
when he returned suddenly the place
was on fire. The firemen would not
go upstairs through the different apart
ments without command from a SUI
perior officer. Kadelburg begged,
pleaded and implored to be allowed to
go in because he knew there were peo-
4as,
awaited the arrival of the officer, the
flames SWEET through the building, and
by the time the officer came the in
mates were burned to death
The following is another example of
redtape methods being particularly
hard on effective fire service. fire
recently broke out at Hermannisreuth,
an Austrian village, near the Bavarian
frontier. A Bavarian brigade, only
three miles away, fastened to the
scene, but the Austrian custom house
authorities refused to allow the fire
engines to pass the frontier without
paying the usual tax on imported ma
chinery. The Bavarian fi.emen
naturally turned back and half the viii
lage was destroyed before the nearest
Austrian fire brigade could reach the
scene.
The fire brigade or corps, of Sap
eurspompiers, of Paris, which is one
of the best equipped in Europe, is part
ly under the direction of the Project
of Police and partly under that of the
of War, who takes charge of
it's organization. Much was said at
the time of the terrible fire at the
Opera Comique, in 1887, of the evils of
this dual system. The chief of the
corps, an officer appointed by the War
was often an experienced
soldier, but, before his appointment,
not a skilled fireman.
In st. Petersburg the arrangement
Of fire alarms is rather peculiar and
decidedly unique and the fire-alarm
telegraph is an unknown thing. In
stead a fireman is at all times in the
tower of the city hall, and he watches
the surrounding city to catch the first
glimpse of fire. When a fire is dis
covered during the day he runs up
black balls on the top of the tower as
signals; at night red lanterns are
used. The number of the balls or
lanterns shows the district or ward in
which the fire is located. AS soon as
the signal is seen by the man on duty
at an engine house he rings a bell
which calls together the mem
bers of the company, who may be
scattere dover a couple of blocks. This
method is not conducive to quick time
in reaching the scene, and from 20
to half an hour is good work
unless the fire happens to BE near an
engine house. A st. petersburg fire
on its way to fire is little
parade in itself. There is a line of