Norwich bulletin., 1920-06-17
TELLS RoTARIANs WHAT CITY
 NEEDS FOR FIRE APPARATUS

In speaking on What Norwich Needs Howard l.. Stanton, chief,of the local fire | department, told the Rotarians of this city,, at the weekly monday luncheon of Sthe club at the Wauregan House We'd nesday that it was his opinion that the city was in urgent need of more motor driven fire apparatus, at least two more motor driven bumpers. At present, said Chief Stanton, we have three pieces of motor apparatus, one of which is real hre-fghting machine, while the other two are light machines and only good for small fires. People are under the gem eral impression that Norwich is well equipped with fire apparatus, but we are far from it. Our aerial truck is too small for the high buildings in the busi- ness section and our motor apparatus, with the exception of the bumper at the central station, would not be able to cope with a big fire. Greeneville, where there are many industries employing | thousands of hands, is entirely without
 protection other than the city pieces of apparatus. It is true, we have steam
 CT and hook and ladder there, but these
 are horse-drawn pieces. When an alarm | comes the horses have to be brought | from distance and hitched to the ap- | paratus, the firemen in this section have
 to come to the station and before they
 get set the motor driven apparatus is
 ahead of them. Should 1t ever happen l that fire should break out in Greene vile when the central apparatus was at
 another fire, say in Thamesville, we
 would surely lose one of our industries, for the Greeneville companies would not be able to cope with the situation.
 | The same Is true with the Thamesville section of the city. Here are several
 industries with practically no protection
 whatever with the exception of the cen.
 tral fire stations. The Falls district is
 another. Here there is residential sec.
 tion protected only by horse-drawn ap.
 paratus located in an out of way place The horses on this piece of apparatus art
 old ard good only for short run. Of
 ten when there is fire in this section the motor apparatus is on the seen,
 many minutes before the horse-drawr
 vehicles arrive.
 Another thing that makes 1t urgen
 that Norwich have more bumpers is tha
 the water pressure in some sections O
 the city is very low owing to the smal , mains that were laid many years ago. II ! the business section of the city one . hydrant will show about 100 to 12 pounds pressure but when two hydrant
 are in use this pressure is reduced to 4 . to 50 pounds. I visited a hydrant at tn top of Boswell avenue a short time az
 and found not one drop of water there
 This is something that should be locke, .j after. In Thamesville the pressure 1 low when the factories are drawing o
 1 the water supply and a bumper is need ' ed here in case of fire.
 ' We have a big area to cover here 2
 square miles, territory as big as Ney e Haven, and in this big area there is e lack of sufficient fire alarm boxes. N | city in New England needs more fir : boxes than does Norwich. We need a
 least 20 more. In the hazardous distric 8 the business section, there are only . few boxes and in the residential sec
 tions they are very much scattered. o n Thames street there are no boxes fror = Thames square to the stove foundr! Il This is very hazardous district wit n old wooden fire traps.
 ?, l have been connected with the fire dt j. partment for fifty years, starting in a
 . boy as a volunteer and for the las d AS years have been chief of the depart e nent. My heart and soul are in tn sI &ame and I want to see the best depar 2 enent in New England right here in Nol e + rich. The boys in the department ar n1 She best in New England. Every man
 & soldier and every man is on the io
 every minute. There are none bette e anywhere. have 27 men in the d, . Dartment, small number for a city tt :. hize of Norwich. With one man frol ,, edcn company OH one 0ay week near y 'haS five are off every day, leaving II -s only 20 men and during vacation tin u seven are off daily. When fire occul II during the noon hour have sometim, !. lad to go to a fire with only two men II avery piece of apparatus. The call me 10 nowadays do not count for much as the io :annot possibly get to fires at the san
 fme as the motor apparatus.
 es In making recommendations for ir g. movements Chief Stanton said that No dt vich needed two 75o-gallon bumpers, Id i5-foot aerial and change in locati, ,n ,f the Falls station. This station Is n IS worth 15 cents to fix up. What we ne,
 6. a station of the bungalow type l Is cated in the vicinity of Chelsea para tn with a piece of motor-dxven apparat is n it. Thamesville needs the same or ices Greeneville.
 e. The majority of people cry 'murde of when the subject of more apparatus lit proposed. They do not realize that t. small taxation might save them the
 industries and keep them at work he en years while with no more apparat n- she factories may go up in smoke at al he minute. Ne city is nearer the breakil