Evening star., 1925-07-14
F|REMEN ENTHUSED
OVER SPEED TRIALS
Star Cup Formally offered
Today-Decision Lies
With Fenning.

Announcement that Washington s
Fire Department would be tested as
20 its speed in getting away on an
alarm of fire, with the offer of a
large silver loving cup to the com
pany making the best record, has
created much interest among the men
and everywhere today there were
signs of increased preparation for the
competition
Formal offer of the cup was made
to Commissioner Frederick A. Fen.
ming. In charge of the Police and Fire
Departments, by The Evening Star
today. In letter the Commissioner
was earnestly requested to accept the
cup and lend his personal interest
10 WaShington's efforts to beat the
Baltimore Fire Departments national
record of 10 seconds.
Chief Engineer Watson is enthusi-
astiC over the plan and declared he
believed it would do much to keep
the men in the department ION their
toes" He has already had Deputy
Chief Thomas O'CG-@ar watch the
record.holdins BzltirIASFe company
answer an alarm under the conditions
imposed at the time 1t established
the 10-second record, and as soon as
he receives authority from Commits
sioner Fenning is ready to test the
entire Washington department.
VIII Receive No Warning.
No company is to be warned in ad-
vance when the referee will visit it.
When everything is ready for the test
the men will be ordered to the extreme
rear or the engine house to make sure
there Will be no charges of unfairness.
Then the gong Will strike box 13, the
same box used in Baltimore, and the
apparatus will rush out in response
to that call
From the minute the gong taps the
first stroke stop watches will be set
going. They will be stopped on the
fraction of d second that the rear of
the apparatus has cleared the street
side of the door and is actually on its
way to the fire. There will be no sec
ond chances, no excuses will be an.
Ewered. If anything went wrong it
would have been just the same in
the event of a real fire and will
count.
The very thing the officers o. the
department want is to make - xidi.
tions identical with those as t,f>en q
real alarm sounds. If clutches nlp,
gears refuse to inmesh or brakes are
too hard to throw off, that Is the
company's general hard luck" and
the drivers in particular. The gears
of one engine failed to work prop
erly the other day and it took the ap-
pRratus II seconds to get out of the
house. That would have counted.
Other Prizes Suggested.
The company winning the cup will
hold 1t for only year, unless it sue
ceeds in winning it back again in the
next test. The name of each winning
company, however, will be permanent
ly engraved on the trophy. and if any
company wins it three times the cup
viii then become it's permanent prop
erty. Each year. however, the win
ming company will receive a small
bronze plaque, announcing its cham
pionship, to be placed on the appara-
tus permanently.
Interest has been aroused all over
the city in the test, and 1t has been
suggested from many quarters that
each member of the winning COM
pany should receive some individual
gift to keep in token of the event One
merchant suggested that a number of
leading business houses each offer a
present of some kind that would be
constant reminders to the men of
their superiority under test.
TT is the business men the Fire De-
partment serves most" said the au-
thor Of the suggestion, 'and 1 am
sure there would be scores who would
like to help make this test a real one
It would be something to be proud of
to say that Washington-the National
Capital-has the fastest fire company
in the Nation. If we beat Baltimore's
record we will hold that distinction,
because Baltimore took it away from
Detroit. And we can do it, too"