The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-10
Big Night for the Fire Department
or 1 Will Remember When the Bapt huroh
Burne Camewen

This alarm was hardly in when a telephone
message announced that the c., II. & d.
roundhouse at Belmont avenue and the
C., II. & ID. tracks was on fire. To this he
sent three companies, and now the reserve
force was getting low. but, as the church
fire was under control, Chief Coots ordered
some of the hose companies TO take up
their lines and go home; this was very
fortunate, for they had no more than ar
rived in their quarters when two more
alarms came In which were in opposite di-
rections. The first alarm called the COM
panies TO New Jersey and Massachusetts,
avenue, which took the reserve force from
the northern part of the city, and they had
not yet arrived at this fire when a box was
pulled in the extreme northeastern part of
town. The only thing left in the way of
apparatus to send TO this fire was the hose
wagons located south, and this occasioned
very long runs over streets that were al
most impossible on account of the snow.
HORSE WITH A RECORD.
The two companies which received the
longest runs were the Threes located on
Prospect street and the Thirteens on Mary
land street. The latter company, however,
only has one horse attached to the wagon.
and he already had had three runs that
day and then had to answer the alarm at
Martindale avenue and Twenty-second
street. He is not very large horse, and
the men were somewhat in doubt as to
whether he would get there with the heavy
load he has to pull. But what he lacks in
size he makes up in nerve, and has run TO
fires long enough to know how to do it, and
arrived there with little trouble.
Strawd Glazier in speaking of the work
that was accomplished that night said:
II never had handled as many companies
as L did last Sunday morning Once be-
fore L had a night almost as bad but I
don't think that it quite came UP to this
one. What made things so difficult was the
fact that the alarms that came in after the
church caught fire were SO scattered. You
see none of them was near the city, and
the four companies that have moved in from
the outskirts when 1 struck second on the
church fire had all the work they could do.
From the instant that Chief Coots drove
up here and told me to send in the second
alarm l never lost sight of him during the
whole fire, because / could never tell at what
instant he might want more apparatus
had him spotted. and no matter where he
WENT L COulQ tell MIN.
THE way we operators run this business
Is that when an alarm comes in every COM
pany that answers IL is marked on a slate
and II the boxes get to coming in too fast
we have five small cards with numbers
which represent the companies printed on
them. These we place on the desk before
us. and as they move about we shift the
cards from place to place. The operators
really play a game of chess during the time
when lot of companies get scattered
all over town. The difference between our
game, however. and a real one is that we
only have a few seconds to make our moves
while a chess player has a day or so from
what / understand.
keeping in touch with the companies last
Sunday morning was people who kept call
ing up here and asking what was on fire
these calls at last got to coming so fast
that could not answer them. Every per-
son who has telephone in his house now
as soon as he hears the fire bell, COM
mences calling UP here and wants to know
what 1t is. Now, most OF these people have
no business At fire, and simply want to
find out about IL Just out of idle curiosity
house. Many OF them would not walk
across the street to see a burning building
If they had the chance. Often in the night
l will have people call up here and ask
that there is no fire they are very obstinate
and say that they have heard the fire de.
partment going by their house, and you
can't make them believe anything else The
truth is, they have heard automobile or
something else that has a gong on it going
by. The worst / ever had was the other
night, when some fellow heard Fire CUT
being struck, and wanted to know If II was
q second alarm. When I told him IL was
fire out he wanted TO know what that was
1t was too much for me, so Just hung up
without answering. / thought would let
him figure that out by himself"