The sun., 1918-08-01
On Duty 20 Hours n Day.

The fireman Is on duty twenty house
day Away back in 1866 his days Off
were one in eth. 1t was believed when
the recreation time was doubled and
every nth day was a holiday that the
department would never have to return
to the old schedule. But so many men
were drafted and so many resigned or
retired because of low pay and greater
inducements outside that Commissioner
brennan and Chief Kenlon wer eforced
to cut the days of in half. beginning on
June !. Even the the department was
shorthanded.
AS there are plenty of men of officer
rank, they could have been exempted
from the restriction of free time that
went into effect on June /. But such
is the adeship of the Fire Depart
ment that the officers said mo. What
ever the men can stand We can: II they
get only a day OF in ten so do We"
So for two months officers and blue
shirts" have been able TO spend a day
with their families just three times a
month. The rest OF the time, except
for four hours day for meals. they
| were out fighting fires or shut up in the
| fire houses.
The Commissioner and Chief Kenlon
| didn't want to cut the recreation time
| IN two. 1t was unde rstood that the
moment they could find a way to re.
store the day in Ave" system they
would do it. The fremen and their
| officers suggested methods which have
| helped TO produce this result. One was
! the formation OF volunteer force.
the members of which spend some time
| in fire house once a week. Another
! was the assignment of Commissioner
| Enright's police reserves to duty in the
| theatres.
Police Reserves in Theatres.
There are about 135 theatres which
require the presence OF a fireman during
/ performances. For the past month these
| firemen have been breaking in the police
| reserves. AS most of the latter have
their own business to look after in the
daytime they can do theatre duty only
at night. Therefore regular flremen will
| continue to he seen in the afternoon in
/ those theatres that have afternoon per-
formances. but at night 1875 fremen will
he relieved by the presence OF the police
| reserves.
| Meantime the Fire Department has
| been able to work out n schedule OF
| transfers. reorganization OF companies
| and filling in. which, with the extra mer
| provided by the use OF volunteers and
/ police reserves. has enabled Chief Ken
| lon to restore the day in five system
| on August l. az he had hoped to do. In
the aggregate the fireman will not be of
duty as many hours AS he was before
June l, for the olY schedule included
thirty-six as well as twenty-four hour
leaves.
But the fremen every NTH dav. ar.
set free for whole day by the clock
and that Is what they wanted. 1t is he
lieved that the series of designations
brought about by the day in ten" or
der will stop. that the department will
be able to keep what men II has and
that as the first year salary has beer
raised from s1.050 to $1,000 new mer
| will be attracted who have been keeping
| away.
The volunteers of the Fire Department
| will also make their sacrifice witt
greater zest now that they know thai
the time they give to the city is making
ii possible for fireman to visit his owr
home just twice as often as he has beer
doing and that they know they arr
tangibly helping the department to han
die it's big job In city packed witt
combustible material dumped here II
war time transit,