The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-01

pointed by the Commissioner. 'who shall
be skilled In the use Of explosives and whose
duty it shall be to instruct and drill said
corps in the use Of explosives and give the
corps such other instruction as may be
required to qualify them effe ctually to dis
charge their duties"
Technically the CORPS Is supposed to be
made up to-day Of the lieutenants of the
Are companies. Ask men who have been
here is such a corps and they would have
to look up the book Of rules TO be quite
sure. They probably wouldn't know who
composed 1t, even though they happened
to be ex-oficio members Of it,. None of
the old members Of the department, in
Guiding Chief Croker, can recall that the
corps provided for by law has eve been
called together either for instruction in the
Use Of explosives or for any other purposs
since the day the paid department was
FITS a dead letter. said Chief Croker
the other day, because We don't believe
in blowing up buildings nowadays
Chief Croker isn't the only chief that has
a fire department to train it's members in
blowing up buildings: Bonner had the
same theory, and 80 did Chief Shay.
Shay was chief Of the paid department
for years after it was organized. Despite
the fact that as assistant chief Of the volun-
teer department he had had charge Of the
sappers and miners. he never organized
the corps in the paid department, and his
successors have followed his example.
As a matter Of fact, according to the
hasn't had any cause to use explosives Of
was the year Of the New York Are, il any
fire in this city can be referred to that way.
gave the vsmps Of those days the greatest
fight they had ever had. 1t burned up
$40. 900, 900 Of property.
Gunpowder..a lot Of twas used at tins
fire. 1t wasn't the sappers and miners ,oS
the Fire Department that undertook the
work Of blowing up buildings, but the
marines from the Navy Yard. They
brought over the powder and it was they
who took sole charge OF the work. AL
though a number Of buildings were blown
up Il has never been certain that this lie
much to stop the fire.
we nave had any number Of fires, : said
Chief Croker the other day, (which didn't
| differ in any Of their essential features from
as those at Baltimore, Rochester and other
cities. They didn't get that far with us
\ because we have a larger fire department
| than any oth g city Of the whole world and
a water supply that has never failed US,
The fact that time and again we have con-
fined large fires to the spot where they
originated is one Of the reasons why the
corps Of sappers and miners hasn't been
organized in the days OF the paid depart
ment and why we haven't started schools
Of instruction for dynamiters.
take the Tarrant explosion. Following
that explosion fires were started in twenty
or thirty different buildings. There could
have been no better start for one OF these
great fires Of history; but we could oall
enough men and machines to that spot to
separate the force into large units, each
having charge OF one particular fire and
each unit made up OF enough men and
equipment to put ont that fire. 1t is doubt
full il it could have been done in any other
city.
storm; we nave faced nearly every pom
dition save that Of having our water mains
ripped open by an earthquake. Even
il that should happen in New York there
are the rivers. There could be few fires
far enough away from them to make it
impossible to pump water from them. II
we had to, every engine in the department
could pump from the rivers II worse came