Arizona republican., 1922-01-01

gado. serves in like capacity at No. q
and Ted Mcdonald is captain at
No. s. Fire Chief simmons viii apA
point a captain for Station House
No. within the next few days. Tom
Kilgore and Jack Sullivan are lieu=
tenants at No. and II. q. Adler
holds a similar position at No. 8.
w. II. Price is secretary Of the dea
partment and he keeps a careful reca
ord of all activities.
Fire Chief Simmons has been 4
member of the department since 1898
during the days of the hand drawn
hose carts. IL was largely a vol
unteer department in those days.
T. Fl. Sullivan was the first paid fire
chief hired by the city. That was In
May of 1894
A year after Hoseman Simmons
Joined the department, the city es-
tabnshed it's paid fire department.
The first horse drawn apparatus was
purchased it being an engine. A lit
tie later horse drawn hook and lad
der was added. Hand drawn hose
carts continued in operation for many
years.
In 1914, the city decided to motor
ize it's fire department. Three Sea-
graves machines were purchased and
installed in the station houses of the
city. That marked the passing of the
old horse drawn vehicles.
One Of the Finest in Country
Since then the city has added to
it's equipment from time to time un-
til now the department is consid-
cred one of the finest of any city
of it's size in the nation. It's en-
ficiatagxy Sc Y.af1anfpI ffa agfaanf1W
decreasing fire insurance rates.
Efficiency--that's the watchword
of the department. Each day finds
the men drilling. Sometimes it's a
drill with the motor machines: solne-
times it's squad drills, drills In the
handling of hose, nozzles or other
equipment, but never a day goes by
but that some drill is practiced.
Twice each day motors on the ma
chimes are started, first az z O'clock
in the morning. and again at o'clock
in the evening, this 10 make sure
that everything is in the proper
working order.
And there is still another service
rendered by the department, a sery-
ice designed solely 10 save life. A
pulmotor purchased sometime ago
by the city, has been mounted on
the chiefs car and is always avail
able to the general public. IL is
especially valuable in cases drown
ing, asphyxiation or electrocution.
Value Of the department as a fire
fighting agency has been demon
strated time and again, but prob
ably never more clearly than in the
following four fires:
Some Fire Battles
On June %, 1915. members OF the
Central fire station noticed flames
shooting from the roof OF the Conn
mercial hotel The entire depart-
ment was called to fight this blaze.
which entailed a loss of 100000. More
than 4,300 feet of hose was laid in
eight lines and 1850 gallons Of wa
ter was thrown on the blaze for five
and one half hours, 1t being esti-
mated that about $4,000 gallons OF
water was used. The damage done
by the fire was confined to the hotel.
On June II, 1920. the entire de-
partment was called out to handle a
fire with chemicals alone, the only
time in its history that such a de-
mand has been made. II was a blaze
at the Pacific Gas and T. lectric COM
pany plant. No damage was Zone.
On Mdftn -, 1871, tne department
responded to an alarm on West
Washington street. where a fire,
starting in. the Oakland Sales com-
pany, was in progress. The entire
building was in flames when .the
apparatus arrived. and 1850 feet OF
hose was laid in nine lines and $3.50
gallons of water per minute used, the
total amount thrown on the blaze
being estimated at 100000 gallons
The estimated loss on this fire was
S37s21.
on September 2s, 1921, the depart
ment was called to the Southwest
Cotton company's meal and storage
warehouse at Fifth and Lincoln
streets. When the department ar
rived the roof Of the building was
falling and the entire plant was
threatened. The department laid i'm
four lines and used two of the COM
pany's, using about 1000 gallons OF
water per minute. The fire was un-
der control in about five minutes
after the water was turned on, al
though IL took several hours to COM
pletely extinguish the blaze.
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