Arizona republican., 1908-07-03
Tempe Department F.w GRIFFIN. Manager
FIRE DEPARTMENT
 MONTHLY MEETING
A General Discussion of Ways and
 Means of Bettering the Organization.

The regular meeting ot he Tempe volunteer fire department was held in 1 the council chambers Wednesday ev-
 ening and was well attended by the
 members, Butte company however, be- | ing q little better represented than the
 East Tempe company. known as No. | l. The meeting was a very enthusi- astic one in more ways than one, this condition of affairs being largely due to the fact that the department has had an unusual amount of actual eX perience within the past week and is thereby better in a position to note 1 it's weak points. Profiting by this eX perience a move was made to place the equipment of the department in better shape. It is admitted that the apparatus is as a whole not in the best
 of shape and not the most complete Axes and other paraphernalia that is very essential in case of a bad fire haa been worn out or stolen and there are other things that the department has never been properly equipped with. A committee of four two members from each company, was appointed to make a close inspection of the cOndi- tion of the apparatus and the needs of the department and present them to
 the city council The department
 chose good time to make such re- quest for it has been twice demon-
 strated recently that the department is a mighty necessary organization to the good of Tempe and the council will no doubt be willing to meet any reason able demands that may be made for new equipment
 The membership of the department was increased Wednesday evening by the admission of Messrs. Hanna, Gal lap and Bassett.
 The question of sending a delegate to the meeting of the Territorial Fire mems Association which convenes in Tucson tomorrow was discussed at length. The principal purpose of the Tucson meeting is to consider and draw up a bill to be presented to the next legislature requiring of insurance companies that the fire department as- sisting in or at a fire. be awarded ten per cent of what it is estimated the department saves by its efforts It was the opinion of the Tempe organi- Zation that it should be represented at illlS uittliuS anu IlONt NOiSolis Jis was unanimously elected as the dele gate. It was a wise choice. for Mr. Corson is live member of the depart ment and may be relied upon to do all he can to accomplish the desired result.
 F. H. Spain was elected treasurer of the department that office having been left vacant when the other off cers were elected and Rafael Estrada and Ed Carr were appointed fire po- lice. The office of fire police is a new one to the Tempe department and was made possible by a clause that was in serted in the bylaws recently adopted. The duties of the fire police is to have charge of all goods removed from a burning building, to keep the crowd out of the way of firemen and to make themselves generally useful dur ing and after a conilagration. In this connection it might be noted that the firemen complain that during the last two fires outsiders with the best in tentions in the world no doubt. en- deavored to lend their assistance on the hose where they really have no right to be. The handling of thSt part of the fire fighting apparatus is left to the members of the department who have volunteered their services and a man not a member of the depart ment is violating a city ordinance when he makes an effort to be useful in this respect.
 The latter part of the meeting was devoted to a free for all discussion on the general welfare of the department and a number of points were brought out that will be of value to the mem bers of the organization in case of an other fire.