, 1925-01-10
FIRE FIGHTERS
GOTHAM HIT
STRIDE
Epidemic of Blazes
Keeps. Departments
on the Run
BY EDNA MARSHALL
Copyright 1925 Consolidated Press
Associat on)

III L<DANsh -fA1hltJIl<ALL
Copyright 1925 Consolidated Press
Associat on)
NEW YORK. Jan. lo-An epi.
demic of fires in the past few days
with more big blazes than have been
known here for years. has brought
a eyere strain of work for New
York firemen. tremendous financial
loss and a large toll Of injured by
SsiIapsing buildings,
There has been an average lately
OF more than 100 fires n day.
Ffremen-professionals and volun-
tary fire buffs'-have been kept
busy running from big blaze to big
blaze. There vas a ~three-alarm fire
in 42nds street near sixth avenue
which held up traffic for nearly
two hours Wednesday. From $780,.
900 to 81. 900 900 a day have been
lost in property. it has been esti.
mated. and scores OF people have
been injured and made homeless.
Some of the most valuable work
in fire fighting which has helped to
keep up the moral of the over.
worked firemen has been done, ac-
cording to fire,fishting officials by
the rapidly diminishing army of
bluffs who swarm to every size.
able fire in New York and environs.
A few years ago, they attended
fires hundreds strong. Today there
are but a score of them. including
such men as DR.. Harry NJ. Archer.
w. Z. Kenney. millionaire public
utility man; his brother Edward J..
Kenney; Robert H. Manner, a bank.
er. with a fortune: NJ. F. Loughman
deputy state tax commissioner;
Louis and Max Bamberger. brokers;
Manfred Neumoegen; w. W.. Koehn
and Frederick w. Smith, bursar OF
the museum Of national history.
Most of them have telegraphic
alarms next to their beds or In
their offices. or both. which ring
the alarms just as In any fire sta.
ton. When an instrument signals
a second third or fourth alarm fire
the bluffs spring into action.
DR.. Archer. when no fire is In the
offing. is chief surgeon for a big
.life Insurance company. But his
proudest possession. he AYERS. is the
Bennett medal Of the department.
he won not long g for heroic ef-
fort at great personal risk. DR..
Archer. who IS tai. well built and
only slightly gray, was honorary
officer of the fire department and
was made honorary medical officer
and chief in 1902. The ~Bambergers,
Mr.. Kenney, Mr.. Smith and several
others It is said are little less re.
l%igious" in their attendance upon
fires.
sDr. Archer has countless stories
OF experiences at fires. But It is
with difficulty one makes him re-
late his escapade OF last March
when. daring death under swaying
beams. he made his way through
the debris at No. 80 Eldridge street
and directed the rescue of several
men entombed in the wreckage.
But the ranks of the "buffs' are
fast thinning The OF fire
chasing has gone. The passing OF
fire horses has made the race TO the
scene less spectacular. The fire
bSsse mascot dogs who used to
FUN under the apparatus to answer
every alarm car not keep up with
automobiles and their absence
makes the run less picturesque.
Still, the most ardent flremen In
America" is what old timers call
the score or more OF mutt" fire
runners who hustle out at any hour
OF the day or night. however zeroic
the weather, to experience the thrill
OF each fire and offer what help
they can.