Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-06-17
TWELVE COMPAk
IN FIRE DEPART MENT
Six Men to Unit in Charge of
Captain and Lieutenant.
May Use Present Houses.

cut of tho mass Of conferences be
tween the Directors Of Public Safety
fire experts. officials Of the various
city departments. officers Of tho volun-
teer fire companies and scores Of in
terested persons. WHminetons new
raid fire department Il beginning to
take definite shape For several
months the directors have been gath
ering data. hlIt not until the en-
gagement Of Richard Croker md Cap.
tain Tmherkahi of New York. . weet
ago, were there any steps taken
toward actually forming the depart
ment.
There vii he no less than IL conn
panies located at the present sites
and there ia possibility of another
fire house being erected after the new
department has been tested II is not
thought necessary to obtain any new
sites. as with motor driven apparatus
a distance of few blocks makes only
q negligible difference. The house.
owned b. the volunteer companies
viii be ratcnaaea and altered as seen
iit hy the experts and. IL necessarv.
torn down and replaced with new
buildings. The work OF making suit
able quarters is expected to be the
second largest item on the expense
account.
Purchasing Of new apparatus wiiI
occasion the greatest outlay Of money
- the tests Of the engines now in U.s..
reveals that only a small part will
one up 70 the requirements neces-
sary 70 be made part of the new de-
Iartment. The men in charge of tha
work are proceeding with the undar-
standing that efficiency shall h. nm
before expense. This does nor rnea,
that money is TO be spent reeklessfv
The tests Of the apparatus will be COM
i'leted before next Thursday and r.
suits will not be made publi.. befor4
that time.
company Of firemen in charge of
house will consist OF six men under Al
ofiicer with the title of captain. one
OF the six men shall be a second
officer with the rank Of lieutenant
The day will be divided into two shirts
which will bring the number of ire
lighters in all to one hundred and
sixty eight In addition. however
there viii be chief of the depart
ment and two assistants. each in
charge Of a separate district
So far as possible it is planned IL
select The officers according 10 merif
and If man after having been given
charge OF company shows signs of
not being able to handle it he will Ii
removed and another man given a
chance. The task of disciplining the
men Is expected to be a difficult one
as the rules and regulation govern
ing the fire department viii be as
strict as those Of the police depart
ment.
Even after the department has been
completely organized and a chief and
the actions of tho new men and an
other local officers placed in charge tht
experts viii remain here 10 watch over
paratus. one matter about which the
directors and others associated with
the work have refused 10 6ivulge anv
information is the question of pay
However. il IS expected To be in the
neighborhood of 81 400 year the Same
as patrolemen receive. In spite of the
four extra hours of the firemen his
work is not as strenuous as police
patrol duty
\ number of applicants are under
consideration for the position Of fire
chief and the Directors of Public
Safety are expected To make an ap-
pointment next week. The work Of
appraising the apparatus and buildings
Is likely to be completed within the
next -four days.