Evening star., 1924-11-16

A MoNd the methOdS employed
~ by firemen to rescue person:
~ from burning buildings none
4 4 is more spectacular or fraugh
with greater danger than the
human chain" Firemen either form
Il line on roof coping or hang sus-
pended. or stand on window slls and
pass persons from one to another al
extreme personal risk.
An instance of the use Of this
method was in a fire at 1856 Boerum
place, Brooklyn. This occurred or
the third and fourth floors of a dwell.
ing house and so quickly involved the
halls and stairways that 13 persons
were trapped in the upper part OF
the building.
Members Of Hook and Ladder Com
rany No. los raised two 3O-foot lad
ders to each of the apartments. 1t
was soon realized however, that
owing to the large number of people
to be rescued and the rapidity of the
spread of the flames, the work OF
bringing them down the ladders
would have been too slow.
Most Of the people were in a highly
excited. hysterical condition, and
some of them were on the point of
jumping from the windows They
had to be restrained by a manifesto
tton Of physical force on the part of
the f1remen. Acting Lieut.. Ferdinand
A. Boyer decided to form a human
chain, stretching from the windows
or the burning building to an ad-
joining structure. Boyer had climbed
TO the window cap of the third story
from the ladder
Firemen Joseph Maher Leland J.
wallace, and John ]. McLinden went
IN through an adjoining building to
the fourth floor and took their stands
on the window caps of the floor be-
low Other firemen. William Suomila.
FerdInand Seitz, and Valentine Han
sen, spread a life net as precautton-
ary measure. 1t was, indeed, fortu-
nate that they did so. Just as the
net had been pulled taut a 6-year-old
child was thrown from the fourth
story window by her distracted
father: she landed safely In the net.
Volumes of smoke and fame were
pouring from the windows Fortu-
nately. a skylight on the roof OF the
building had been opened by one of
the ffremen, thus reducing the volume
OF smoke and aiding the rescue
The heat and flames inside the build
ing were so intense. however that 1t
was necessary to use the utmost
speed in making this rescue to pre-
vent loss of life not only from the
fire. but from the excitement of the
people, who were driven almost to
desperation.
x X X X
STANDING on the narrow tops Of
~ the windows and held in position
by the continuity of the human chain
stretching across the two buildings,
the firemen succeeded In passing to
safety all of the families occupying the
fourth floor. The employment Of this
method was the only means by which
these people could have been rescued.
The forethought IN stretching the net
prevented the one fatality that might
have readily happened when the child
was thrown from the window.
One of the greatest obstacles that
was presented was the almost un-
comfortable panic on. the part Of per-
sons whose rescue Was made They
were so frightened that each one
wanted to be first; none OF them
seemed willing to await their orderly
turn. The firemen had great diff
flculty, as they stood on the narrow
window caps. In preventing these
people from literally climbing on top
of them and thus causing the failure
of the entire operation. 1t Is hardly
necessary to say that each fireman