The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-09-24

/ ments notice; sit down TO no meal nor
4 lie down 10 a nap that you may be sure
Will be uninterrupted; in short, to real
/ ize twenty-four hours a day and seven
days a week that you can't call your
time your own?
Much like that of a prisoner on pro-
1 baton is this life-that of the fire
1 chief II is this life that Chief w. H.
! Bywater of the Salt Lake City fire de-
/ partment lives 365 days out of the year.
/ with the exception of a short vacation
each summer. Ii is the strenuous life
| ideal the antithesis of the simple life
! You, Mr.. Business Man, or Profess
/ sional Man, or Student, how would you
like TO have every move during the day
/ carefully noted on a tab? If you stepped
! down the street for tie, or into res
! taurant for a meal or to some play
/ house for mental recreatiOn-hoW
4 would you like TO know that from one
1 TO d dozen men kept strict tab on your
/ movements so that any time or any
place some one might place his finger
on you and say, You're needed or
! maybe, SIS broke loose in the --
/ building; the wagons on the road.
! 1t wouldn't make any difference
| whether you were just sinking your
teeth into "A juicy steak. or that the
/ villain i'm the play was about TO get
! his and the hero come into his own
you'd have to drop everything and
get busy-that is, if you were fire chief.
Keeping ''Tab" on Chief.
Some may think this statement IS
: little overdrawn, but ask any fireman,
and as the chief OF the department is
| properly the biggest fireman of them
! all, il is natural thai his story should
| be the most interesting. A peep ar
! small tablet an the call office Of the
| central fire department any day Will
show something Ike this:
call chief at following phone num-
bers;
"2l4.
$40.
'539
1926.
| $40"
This was the record for Sept. 30 up to
| 4. p. m. 1t means mat when Chief By
| water left the department in the morn
ing, after returning from his breakfast,
he went first 10 the Office of the board
| of underwriters of the Pacific, theirs
being the first telephone number on the
list.
Upon leaving there he 'phoned the
station that ne was going to the office
Of Councilman G.. NJ. Neuhausen.
From there he went to see Assistant
City Attorney W. H. Bramel. Next on
the list is the waterworks department.
and from there Chief Bywater went to
the mayors Office. 1t will be noticed
that the three last calls are in the city
and county building. and yet no pre-
caution was overlooked, for the three
offices are on different floors.
Chain of Communication.
This is only one link in the complete
chain by which the station knows that
il can get into communication with the
chief in the quickest possible time.
| Wheat Chief Bywater leaves his office
he sleeps at the statiOn-at $50
O'Clock each morning the men know
that he will go to his home at 75S Sixth
street by a certain prescribed route,
| This never varies, or. if it does, the
office is notified. The chief has both
| phones and can be called away at any
time during breakfast When he leaves
his home he telephones to the central
station. If he intends stopping at No.
4. on / street, he makes note of it. On
arriving at and leaving No. other tel
ephone messages are delivered.
Once he has returned to the central
station from breakfast Chief Bywater
begins the real business of the day.
This includes consideration of official
correspondence and the regular daily
inspection of station, equipment, horses,
etc.
How System Works.
From this time on the work of keep
ing tab" on the chief by telephone be-
gins, i'm the manner shown in the in
PRODUCTION of this article. A question
may arise as to what is 10 be done
where the chief happens TO have just
left one place and has not arrived at
the next The best answer to this is
the relation of little incident which a
few Salt Lakers Witnessed a short time
ago which shows how chief and men
work together in a case Of fire where
the former happens to be absent from
the station.
Chief Bvwater. accompanied by City
Clerk John 5. CTitchlow and Water Su-
perintendent Frank l.. Hines, was
walking up State street, near Third
South street. when he heard the sharp
rattle of his horses hOOfS as they rang
out on the Second South street cross
ing. Neither the chief nor his cOmpan-
ions saw the rig, bat the chief, recog-
nizing the familiar gallop, jumped "a
the rear and before either Critchlow on
Hines was aware of what was IN
he had jerked off his coat anZ was IN
the middle of State street. He swung
the coat 10 attract the drivers atten-
| ton Bv the time his buggy, with
Driver Frank Angel, had reached him
he was ready to don his fireman's coat
and helmet Hardly a second was con-
| sumed in clambering into the rig after
il had wheeled up to the spot.
No Words Wasted.
This is not uncommon, as many who
, have been walking with the chief wheT
, his rig came dashing down the street
can testify. Conversation is cheap as
. | compared with disastrous fires, and nc
, words are ever wasted once the chiel
sees his buggy approaching as fast as
P one of the gamest animals IN the de-
partment can pull it.
! Chief Bywater would rather inspect
! his department, or confer with under
! writer's or advise merchants to com
= ply with the fire OrdinanCes-he would
. rather do any of these duties pertain
/ ing to his Office than tell stories n
! which he is a personal factor. He be
. Neves in system and discipline. not tell
! ing what part he has to co with II.
He's a door" not a teller. but HI
F. consented to give instances. after be
. ing pressed. of how a chief or a fire
man may be caught by suddeI
e alarm of fire.
Caught in Barber Shop.
: One of these, and he says it's an ex
! perience which others of his men cal
! ! duplicate. concerns the chiefs visit L
a barber shop last fall. Chief Bywate
happened to pick the precise half-hou
~, during which a fire broke out, to g It ;
II ! I.Ft a.