The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-19
MANY CITIZENS
 FAVOR FIRE LINE Claimed Fire Department Is Hampered by Crowds at
 a Fire

Tn reference 10 the expressions made lately advocating fire line ordinance for Birmingham. several more men of the city have expressed themselves quite freely.
 B. B. Burton, manager of the Cable Piano company, which was one of the heaviest losers in the Motion Bell fro Sunday morning, is decidedly in favor of It. He said:
 T think that we are sadly in need Of 1t for several reasons. One is that 1t will afford a great protection to both life and property. Many irresponsible and disinterested persons will rush in and hamper the fremen where they arc at work and at the same time lay them selves liable to serious injury and even death. by falling timbers and stones. | q am strongly in favor of the estab- l llshment of fire line ordinance in | Birmingham, for I think we need 1t,
 was in a position to notice these things
 more forcibly than ever before at the 1 fire Sunday morning.
 Chief of Police George H. Bodelker
 said: T think the fire line should be
 established and I always try to maln-
 tain something akin to it when a seri-
 ous fire breaks out, but it is seldom that
 have enough men available for the
 purpose Even if man runs past our
 improvised fire line now we can do
 nothing but bring him back. We can
 not arrest him for repeated offense
 for there Is no law covering It. If there was law to cover the situation, l will guarantee that the police department
 would do it's part toward rigidly main ! tainng a strict fire line"
 r. O. Hebert, southern states manager for the Eureka Fire Hose company, with headquarters in Atlanta, was in
 the city yesterday. He said: "A fire
 line should be in vogue in every city. There is no doubt of it. Without the fire line, there are scores of seff-ap- pointed chiefs of the fire department
 and the nation Is now in great danger
 of it's sidewalk committees who seem 10
 know more about doing things than .t
 man who is experienced in his line by | about % years work l have seen how 1 things go at fires in cities where there
 are fire lines and in cities where there
 are no fire lines and I find every time
 that the amount of damage Is propor- | Liphhiel9 ltSS WHtIt tne HIt iihe io
 maintained than in cities where there
 Is no law covering this evil" l The dremen of the city are also in 1 favor of the fire line. and they state
 they would deem it personal favor should the city commission pass an orr dinance requiring the esta bllshment Of
 a fire line, They state that they are hin- dered in many ways, and oftentmes un- | Intentionally unnerved by some over enthusiastic individual. For instance, at the Bell-Molton building fire Sunday morning, Chief Bennett had ordered a line to the fourth floor of the Bell build ing. While the iremen were preparing 10 put this order into action, some busy man ran up and inquired of one of the
 men at the nozzle: Who were those four men killed around in the alley awhile ago@
 The question was innocent enough within itself but it was enough to un- nerve any man, especially when he did not know whether it was his brother or his best friend who was in the four This particular fireman who was asked knew that his younger brother was handling a line in the alley Just a few
 moments before. He went to his work however, unfalteringly but almost with | a broken heart.
 This was caused by there being no
 fire line in Birmingham.