Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-12-05
MEMORIALS SPUR
TO CITY FTREMEN
citizen's Visit to Engine
House Gives Practical
Demonstration
Always ON THE WATCH

cw,xep. inspired by the recent cam
salxu Of publicity that the hremen OF Rh'l-
saelphia are waglng for popular education
!. hehsn Of more modern working condi-
49, called at the station Of engine No. 81
81 els,h street below Locust. He viewed
80 shining apparatus and spotlessly
s,.srsd equipment, listened with Interest
!. ~. explanation Of the alarm system and
..h.r FEATURES of the service. lie was
.s.,,. 70 depart when his eye was attracted
q, ,,~o brass tablets attached 10 the north
Iii n The main floor These recorded the
,sstirnony Of their fellows TO four comrades
.bo had given up their lives In line OF duty.
Thsse tablets are placed directly above
,..e station OF the man on watch Turning
~ the fireman who was performing that
,seil a. the moment the visitor INQUIRED
'~f,oesnt the presence OF those tablets
.t,h their inscription tend TO make you
gloomy or melanchoiy ss you sit mere AZ
..vat al ALL" replied the blue-clad sens
.,.., az he Eianced upward Those two
tahieta and the lines on them are COM
seant Inspiration to me ana every man IN
shla station True, they make US feel sorry
for the boys in whose memory we erected
ss.v for many OF us knew and admired
shes,,. but principally they teach us one OF
ehe hrst duties OF fremans life The
saving OF life and property must be nc-
esmpIished at all hnEards. Tho gaps In the
rsnhs that those deaths created have been
siied with men just as brave and Rs ready
to give up their lives as tho men whose
names you read there.
.srhere isn't a hoseman In this house, or
anv other fire station today, but would
tste tho chances that those fellows took
svsn N he knew beforehand that death was
me prloe It's the spirit Of the bureau
IA 70 in and never n quit until every per
son is out OF the building and all traces OF
dre have been extnguished. When fire.
man quits it's when the hospital surgeon
pronounces his life entirely gone
ALARM INSTANTLY ANSWERED
Further conversation was interrupted by
the tapping OF a small bell above the head
of the speaker. A marvellous transforma-
flon Instantly occurred
The echo of the big gong had not ceased.
when, almost asNquickly as they had taken
their posts. the men dismounted from the
apparatus and returned to their former
employment about the station.
The man on watch made n hr.sf entry In
q book which lay on n hat-top desk at
which he had been sitting prior to the first
summons,
"a false alarm7' qusried the caller.
~Not at all" was the answer Its not In
eur district that's all That box is out in
Marlborough and we don't take IT,"
The strangers curiosity increased. DO
you mean to say" he asked. that your
company, which does not have to answer
an alarm, must prepare FOR service like
that every time such an alarm is soundedT
''Yes, sir" replied his informant, Every
time box Is pulled in this city, no matter
where. what you have just seen Is done in
every fre station in che bureau. We do not
know until the bell stops tapping whether
Il calls us out or not. Sometimes II hap
pens that we have just got home after a
hard drill Mt a night fire. In our own dis
trct. We are tired out and almost ready
TO drop. But we throw out the wet hose
and replace 1t with clean and dry sections
that we have In reserve in the hose tower.
Then we hoist the dirty hose to the tower,
eiean It and the rest of our apparatus and
when in shape for fire duty, we wash up
and 30 to bed. except the man whose turn
II Is to keep watch. Many time I've
known IL to occur that we have not been
In bed fifteen minutes before the Joker
that little bell you just heard. sounds ten
taps; that's the signal for n fire, and it's
wide awake again. And let me say that
i isn't pleasant for man, worn out by
hard work at a night fire, to be drawn out
OF bed less than half an hour after lying
down TO get ready for another run, II any
thing It's harder TO respond and then, after
making ready to so out. to find that the
box pulled Ia miles away from his district
"ALL IN A FIREMAN's LIFE"
There isn't night, day In and day out,
hat at least one alarm isn't pulled One
nlght last week we had ten and we didn't
80 out once II all goes in a fremRn's life
and venture to say that II isn't part OF
any other vocation In the city's service
That is one OF the reasons why the men OF
the bureau are asking Councils and the
people generally II they think the present
system OF pay and working hours II fair
one for the service demanded.
Would you, or any one else you know,
outside the Fire Bureau care to go through
that experience night after night and day
after day for s7b to t9i a month";
1T Isn't only the duty on the iire grounds
mat breaks US up earlier than men In other
lines. II yol care to look over the records
up al Fire Headquarters they will show
Fou that Of ninety-five men who have been
kiiled In line OF duty, like those men whose
names are on those two tablets, only sixty