The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-21
FIRE

Hanging on to a fire engine as it goes
swinging through the streets behind the
plunging horses. trying TO get first water :
at the fire, is a bit rskier than it used to be
some years ago. This is shown by the
increase in the number Of breakdowns OF
the fire apparatus. accompanied occa-
sionally by serious injuries to the men.
!, There are many more accidents than
there used 10 be to fire apparatus. or
course, there are more engines and trucks
than there used to be to get smashed or to
treak down. but this does not account for
all the increase in accidents.
Sometimes il is only wheel of or a spring
br oxen putting the machine out of bust
ness only for 50 long as it takes to replace
the broken part. At other times 1t Is a
bad smash-up due perhaps to going full
tilt into q n elevated railroad pillar to save
life, or to being hit by a car that should
accidents as the se generally mean spill
for the crew, perhaps laying some OF them
up in the hospital.
More than half Of the accidents are due
to an effort to save life. There is an un-
written rule in the Fire Department for
the drivers. That Is that rather than
sacrifice the life OF careless citizen they
must be prepared to risk their own. together
with the lives Of the crew.
This rule is uppermost In the mind Of
every driver as he starts on the wild tear
through the streets. Not case is on record
in which there was an instants hesitation
in following the rule.
The new en- gines weigh more tn n Ave tons.
When one Of hem is gong at the top speed
of the three horses there ia only one way
to stop the ponderous mass OF moving
metal at short notice. in order, say, to avoid
running over some one or colliding with
crowded car-that is to run it into some
thing as hard to move as a stone wall aid
70, ho oh ~ c1rnin n o,if alive
An elevated railroad pillar will do the
trick II one happens to be handy. In a
cass Of this kind the drivers try TO take
wheel OF. They do it nine cases out Of ten.
to the apparatus and tn. crew than head
on collision with the pillar would do.
They are almost all new drivers now in
the Fire Department. Since 1925 there has
been a wedding out Of the old men. This
has meant the retirement OF lot OF men
who had been driving fire horses for years
and whose names had become bywords
in the department..
These men were trained in the days OF
horse cars. The men who have taken the
chimes have been trained to meet a new
condition of things.
To-day it isn't the jingling horse car.
stopped by a pull on the rens and turn
Of the brake. that they have to look out
for. but the electric surface car. bigger
than the engine, faster and more power
full. These cars ara met somewhere along
ths routs to almost every fire. Some
times tn are are two or three lines to cross.
1t isn't surprising therefore that the
driver of fire engine. as he leans over
his horses shouting encouragement to
them like a charioteer. is thinking all the
time Of that careless motornan and Won
dsring il he'll be at the next crossing. For
any driver will tell you that careless
motorman is more to be dreaded than
smoke and flame and falling walls Thosa
things you can gage. But not care
less motorman.
THY don't pull up their teams. these
drivers don't II they meet the careless
motorman. The trick must be don, just