The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-12-25
FIRE CHIEF
HOME AGAIN
Was Well Treated Upon
Mainland and Got
New Ideas.

my trip East has been beneficial
to me and will be to the city, too,"
said Fire Chief Charles Thurston last
evening. I'm proud of the Honolulu
fire department. 1t compares favora-
bly, with well equipped departments in
A4hany of the big mainland cities
I Honolulu's fire chief thus sums up
9he results of his tour of the Amer
lean cities. He visited Boston, New
York, Newark Chicago. Denver and
San Francisco, and was accorded every
courtesy by fire chiefs he met They
gave him all the information at their
discipline and fire-fghting in general.
Eyes. I have a lot of ideas about
fire departments and some of these l
hope to have put into effect here. OF
course, we have not all the up-to-date
equipment possessed by mainland
cities. We're pretty far away from
centers of information. bat L hope and
believe that we will get some of the
new apparatus we need. For instance,
there are some fine new tools used
nowadays There is the new shut-oH
nozzle and the small hose which IS
carried on a hose wagon
.sThe idea, nowadays is to extinguish
fires with as little damage as possl-
BILE by water. 1t is not the proper
thing now, according to eastern au-
thorities, to drag big line of hose
into a house and throw the heavy
stream on the blaze and destroy ev-
erything else with the water. For m
stance. the small hose carried on the
regular hose-wagon can be attached TO
the end of the big hose provided with
a shut-off attachment This hose can
he carried up stairs or up ladders east
" and without much damage. The
stream of water is smaller but has
good force 1t acts something like
mechanical hose.
'.This tool and others I shall report
on to the county supervisors shortly.
But take it all in all, we have a fine
department here. Many people I came
in contact with in the East could
hardly believe we had anything in the
way of a department. They consider
ed the people down here as savages,
almost
4I went through the Boston depart
1nent thoroughly. Chief Cheswel took
me to several fires, and l visited all
the fire houses. I attended the meet
ing of the Chiefs Club, where chiefs
from all over Massachusetts meet
monthly and swap ideas. They made
me an honorary member. I attended
their dinner and told them few things
about our department.
'I visited Amoskeag, n. H, where
the Amoskeag fire engines are manu-
featured. In Newark, n. j., saw an
exhibition drill with a new extension
ladder raised by compressed air. Two
men can handle the whole machine. |
1t was a great success.
I'm San Francisco. where I spent /
two weeks. Chief Sullivan and others
gave me every opportunity to study |
their system. Chief Sullivan told me I
that when 1 wanted to know something I
about what was going on on the main t
land to write him and he would give |
me all the information he could pick F.
up.
II attended the drill school in New |
York for two days. Chief Croker was
very obliging to me in every way.
LAS to the Honolulu department I
will say that the men are all right.
Better pay is the thing, of course. In
the East the men are paid we'll, and
the men here should have similar
treatment. Underpaid men in fire
department never do it any good. Yes,
a fireman has to show that he is made
of courageous stuff Many people see
the firemen sitting around the stations !
day in and day out and say that for
that class of work they shouldn't be /
paid too well. But let me tell you that
when a fire breaks out the city de-
pends upon those men to be good.
courageous men. and to get that class
of men they must be we'll paid
One thing the chief proposes to put
into effect is establishing fire lines
at fires further back than heretofore
In this he has to have the co-opera-
ton of the police. He proposes to
stretch the ropes just back of the fire
engines, giving the firemen the space
from the engines to the fire in which
to work. Newspaper and insurance
men, etc, he expresses the wish to
provide with badges to permit them
inside the fire lines. This is also
matter he viii take up with Sheriff
Brown
The chief lost about ten pounds
weight while absent, but he is the
picture of health.
A special service for children will be