New Britain herald., 1916-12-20
FLYING SQUADRON
 IN THE FIRE DEPT.
Station in Southwest Section Of City Another Recommendation
16 MORE PERMANENT MEN
Safety Board Plans to Make Appoint mentS Within Short Tfme-PrO- poses to Increase Call Force to EOrty-twO Members.

Forty-two Members
 New Britain's already highly eff cient fire department is to have a flying squadron and new fire house to protect the rapidly growing south west part of the city, if recommenda- tions of the safety board are ap- proved and the necessary money al- | lowed in the budget for the next fis- cal year. Increased efficiency will result, in the opinion of Chairman F. G. Babcock, who has given the ques- ton thorough investigation. Not only has the situation in New Brit ain been gone into but fire protection in other cities has been studied first hand. It was only recently that @ representative of the Fire Under writer's association visited New Brit ain and investigated the local depart ment with Chairman Babcock as guide. He highly comp1imented the city upon it's fire protection, praised the local department and classified it as model for a city of New Brit aims size. Approval was given of the proposed improvements. With them, | he said, the city will have one hum dred per cent department and a probably material decrease in in surance rates. V MT. Babcock and Chief R. M Dame believe that the proposed fly , ing squadron will be of the utmost value, take care of fully fifty per cent. of the fires and check many that would otherwise prove threaten ing. Equipping such a company would be at comparatively low cost. It would do the work that has been so successfully done by Squad A in Hartford, the chemical companies in Bridgeport and similar organization in other cities.
 To Rebuild Used Car.
 It is proposed to utilize the chas- sis. of an ordinary touring car as a basis of the squadrons apparatus Mechanical ability now represented in the department is believed to be sufficient to convert this into light and fast chemical car, capable of carrying one large and two small chemical tanks, @ crew of about six and about 300 feet of hose. It is proposed to station this at headquar- ters and have it respond to all alarms as we'll as take care of all still alarms. The value of such an appar- i atus has been proved in other cities, . Chairman Babcock says materially 1 decreasing big fires by being on the scene before the flames get headway.
 It is proposed to have a picked ! crew in charge and have one or two ] newly appointed men assigned to this l company for training. The belief is 1 that such apparatus would handle a i large proportion of the fires that ! heavier apparatus now attend to.
 Many fires, officials. realize, do not
 need water lines if chemicals are
 used by a competent crew on the
 scene early.
 In his investigation, MT. Babcocz
 has been the guest of Fire Chief ] Moran of Hartford and carefully not ed the work of Squad A in that city. The proposal for a new fire house i in the southwest part of the city to i protect the rapidly growing residen tial sections in that part of the city
 has been under consideration for a
 considerable time. Officials of the
 fire department have urged such an improvement along the lines of in i creased efficiency. The appointment l of more permanent men will give the
 number necessary for the necessary
 assignm ents, when the house is se-
 cured. Tn the opinion of fire de-
 partm ent officials, one of the smaller
 type of motor pumping engines
 would prove adequate apparatus. A
 company stationed in that section of
 the city. it is pointed out, would save
 numerous long runs by centrally To-
 cated companies, protect property
 that is daily growing more valuable
 and, by ability to quickly get on the i S ene check fires before they as-
 sume threatening proportions.
 Sixteen New Permanent Men.
 Sixteen permanent appointments
 10 New Britain fire department will
 be made by the safety board at a : meeting tomorrow or Friday night.
 If the recommendations of the board < are approved by the common council : tonight further appointments of a
 permanent nature will be made as , soon as another list of those eligible under civil service regulations can
 be prepared. The sixteen appoint , ments to be made this week will take
 all the men now qualified for ap-
 pointment under civil service. Rec r concentrations of the safety board I are that the department be increased
 b. more than sixteen additional men, l the maximum number originally pro- = posed in the amended ordinance. . An executive session of the board z was held last night with practically T Eall members of the common council
 attending. The recommendations {, were discussed at length from all e angles and it is reported that the o council members approved of the r proposed changes A meeting of the " safety board will be called for to- a, morrow or Friday night. The reg ular December session had been post 6 poned awaiting action by the council
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