The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-07-11
h
HIS
ROCK
OF
OURS
By BILL GLIB

Public Relations officer, m GO
ing to expose a few of the charac-
ters and screwballs that compos-
ed one of the best watches Of the
best fire department this town
has ever had-namely, d watch
under the leadership Of Bert
Baker at the Navy Fire Station
during the war years. Chief Har-
~ Baker was and still is the top
man, Of course,
The watch consisted Of thirteen
men divided into two teams on
The "big"-750 Ward LaFrance.
and the "small"-500 GMC,
trucks.
There was Jack Cruz-a guy
who lives and breathes for fire
work You never worried about
being left in a tight spot if Jack
was siding you.
] was down in the flooded hold
Of PC one night trying TO tear
out some packing that concealed
fire near the bulkhead Stop
ping to rest for a couple Of sec
onds, | allowed myself to float
on the surface of the water Jack
slipped down in the hold about
this time and touched ny body,
Gosh, ne yelled It's a dead
man. And before I could identi-
fly myself, he darn near drowned
me trying 20 pull me back 10 the
ladder
There was Noel Baker Whc
never missed an inch one way on
the other when landing at a ny
drant Even on practice blackout
nights, And Cecil Catala and
Jack Carey who handled the hard
suction hose and gave Noel water
| seconds after such a landing.
When an alarm came in. ne
one ever rushed for the truck
Three words were spoken. Let.
GO. Boys, and each man waikeC
| TO his position. This was true mosf
of the time However, one nigh
new man became excited He
was on the End truck and WASH
scheduled to roll AS | stepped uI
on the jumpboard Of my truck, ht
let loose with a hay maker tha
knocked me sprawling He ther
turned and ran back to his owl
truck and I barely managed t,
climb aboard my own. To thi.
day the guy claims he doesn'
remember hitting me and / be
! lieve him Excitement can cause
strange actions.
Maynard Lowe was our wurl
'horse. He was never contented t,
/ have a red fire truck. 1t had t.
be SPARKLING RED Lighter il
weight than most of the crew. h
could be depended upon to pul
an equal share of the work load.
can't tell Of course, about til,
time that a certain firefighter wa
frying bacon in the galley whel
the grease became ignited II,
dropped everything and wen
rushing out on the quay wall hol
lering "Firel FIRE." Scared ever,
ship and shore activity within tw,
: blocks.
A thousand and one anecdote
could be told about the variou
members of that watch.
The time for instance, one guy
wife was mad at him. She chase
him all over town wildly swing
ing a pocketbook at his head Fl
snallY he had the good sense L
Isduclt yis1f the Navy Yard tn
Isklafines leff him pass because 0
'laIa badge bun stopped the angl,
wife. The poor guy worked tween
ty-four hours straight before h
| had the nerve to leave the Ydrt
again.
Others on that watch wer
| Frank Hernandez, Lily" Valen
zuela, Ollie Valesquez, Jack vii
] liams, Ralph Russell, and jim
Roberts. They were a group tina
were able to live down the dis
agreeable features Of mangled DO
dies and fierce heat OF fire a
we'll as the boresome hours o
simply waiting for an alarm be
cause of their mutual comradc
ship and devotion to duty
-------sszzAss---------
Because of their high energ,
| Communication, t,.Ar n,Atit Of rAtf.inhi