The Mankato free press., 1911-09-22

cleanliness, orderliness, convenience
and modern appliances cannot be
surpassed. The stalls are of the
best, with the proper ventilation
accommodations for the men are as
good as any, there is library, gym
nasium for the men, and plenty OF
breathing room, and in every way
what an ideal station should be, but
this does not help the city in case
of destructive blaze.
The systematic methods in use
at the station to the very minutest
detail cannot help but impress any
visitor who cares to look into them.
The men of the department are try
ing to do the same thing with the
apparatus but as the philosopher says,
"you cannot draw blood from a
turnip," and so you cannot make
from ancient affairs that have long
ago seen their best days.
This article is not written with
view to criticising the people of
Mankato, it's purposes but to open
their eyes to few of the existing
conditions that exist in connection
with the most important department
of the municipality.
The different trucks are located
as follows: Hose No. 1 and 2 and
the fire chiefs buggy are in the
Central station. Hook and ladder
truck No. 2 is in West Mankato,
while No. 3 is stationed in Dukes
addition. There is also hose carr
The department has five ancient
two-wheeled hose carts that were
purchased twenty years ago. Hose
cart No. 2 was purchased twenty
three years ago and hose cart No. 1,
twenty-five years ago. There are
seven trained horses in service, but
for speed and power the auto truck
is proving so far superior to the
horse that it is coming into use en-
tirely in all new purchases.
Another LamentabIe Feature.
The extension ladders are another
lamentable feature of the outside.
On a fifty-foot extension ladder, but
forty-four feet can be used on the
outside. Besides this the ladders
are all splintered and slivered and
have been condemned by no less
than four former chiefs. Where the
aerial extension ladder is used, the
time and assistance in raising it is
estimated at twenty times less than
in raising one by hand. But this
is not all; entire aerial ladder can
be used in saving the lives of peo-
pie and scaling walls, and these
are the factors of great moment.
While other cities boast of at
least goodly number of men TO
handle the apparatus in use, this
city seems to be content with seven
paid men, not including the CHER.
One has but to stop moment and
figure out this little problem to see
that this number is entirely too
small. In case of fire, like the
one at the Hoerr produce and re-
frigerator plant, where all the men
were called out, including many vol
unteers, what chance would there
be of attempting to save one single
other building of any size in the
city if a fire should break out in it
at the same time.
In the first place, only one team
in the barn can be trusted to be
left alone while at fire, and so
with the other two, one man must
simply watch the teams, thus losing
the services of one man at the time
of need Statistics show that there
should be at least one paid fireman
for every 1000 inhabitants in city,
and figuring the population of Man
kato even as low as 10000, ten men
at least should be on the force.
AS far as the hose is concerned,
it seems that the department has
plenty, as there are three hose wag-
ons always loaded besides the sur
plus hose in the station.
The history of some of the trucks
used here is interesting. Truck No.
1, for example, was made for Seat
tie but was returned to the manu-
facturers and then sold to MankatU.
In the days that this dearwas made,
the truck was considered fair, but
now it is out of date.
Buildings in Germany.
However, it is not always the
faulty apparatus and work of the
firemen that permit buildings to be
destroyed by fire. There is the fea-1
ture of the building itself to con-
slider. In the foreign countries such
as Germany and France, where some
of the best machinery and appa-
ratus in the world is in use, where
everything is moved by electricity
from the discharging Of chemicals
to the pulling of the hose wagon,
the buildings are restricted to six
American stories. Also the mate
rial that go into the modern city
buildings there is absolutely fire.
proof.
But in times of fire, speed is the
one important thing to be consider
ed That there may be not the least