The Driver Had the Hardest Job in the Service

 

He was the first man up in the morning, and the last one to bed at night. Three times a week the horses were taken out at 5 a.m. for exercise, unless they had run the night before. This meant the driver got up at 4 a.m. There were stalls to clean and horses to groom and harness to polish. This all had to be finished by 10 a.m. Otherwise 6 a.m. was the usual rising hour for all firemen. Upon rising, the driver curried and brushed his horses, while another scrubbed down the stalls with boiling water, and a third man took care of the harness. Still others took care of the specific feeding routine.

Each fireman who had the care of a horse went back to do his final chore for the day before retiring. He cleaned the stall floor, and bedded it with straw or peat moss. He filled the wire basket with hay, and put water in the basin on the left wall. Also, at 10 a.m., every morning there was uniform inspection, and examination of quarters, horses, and apparatus. During these inspections the men stood at attention, while the captain walked about. If all was satisfactory, the men were saluted and were released to go at will to quarters.

They looked forward to the leisure time after inspection. Unless they were called, their time was their own, to do as they wished. Some slept, others read, and almost always there was some kind of card game in progress.

They worked twenty-four hours a day under the old system, with only one day off each month. The hours were long and tedious. The driver had the day watch from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., the lieutenant from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Then the night watch was given over to the regular firemen on four-hour shifts.

The main floor was dark save for a small lamp on the watch desk and the lanterns that hung, one on each side of the hose wagon, steam engine, ladder truck and chief’s carriage. The signal gongs and wall telephone that linked the firehouse to headquarters and to every corner and alley in the city, and the automatic switching, levers, and push buttons that operated the various alarms, release devices and house lights in the station, were all in the compact space against the wall toward the front of the room.

There sat the man on watch, at a tilt-top desk on which the journal lay opened and ready to take the record of the next alarm. He sat alone at the desk. The house rules kept all the other firemen upstairs or out in the yard, except when there was an alarm or fire, or when they had some station duty to perform.

Turned down boots stood waiting in pair about the floor, rubber coats, with insides up so the sleeve holes could be found in a hurry, hung conveniently over knobby parts of the apparatus. Between the hose wagon and the ladder truck was the chief’s black carriage, small, delicate. Over the dashboard hung the chief’s white coat and while helmet and the driver’s cap and jacket.

At unannounced times, the assistant chief made rounds of the house to look over the horses. He would pull a white silk handkerchief from his pocket, and rub it over the back, neck, and sides of the horses. Any slight soil on the silk was serious; a real offense. A complaint about the horse of the horses meant a fine of at least ten days’ pay. Cleanliness was important, but much attention was also paid to the feet of the animals. Without good, healthy feet a horse was useless. Shoes were changed approximately every four weeks.

A weekly inspection was held, in the old horse-drawn apparatus days, to determine how quickly horses could be harnessed to the engines. The battalion chief of the district stood with a stop watch in his hand and checked the time. A firehouse’s reputation was only as good as its horses and men.

If it took more than twelve seconds for the men to harness up and be at the curb line of the street, it was considered poor time. One might say here that they rolled out of quarters quicker with the horses than they do with the motor apparatus today. But today, of course, the time is made up on the road.

A competitive, or speed test was held on April 22, 1893, to ascertain the exact time in which one man could dress, harness the horses and have the engine in the street after the gong sounded. At this test, Lemuel Rudolph of No. 7 Engine, carried off the prize […] by making a hitch in 25 ½ seconds.

Selected excerpts from The Firehorses of San Francisco by Natlee Kenoyer. Published 1970 by Westernlore Press, Los Angeles, 94 pages. 

Photo – Engine No. 11, San Francisco Fire Department. A call out at night, April 1914. Courtesy San Francisco Fire Museum.

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North Carolina Firefighters to be Honored at National Fallen Firefighters Memorial – October 6, 2019

The 38th National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service will be held in Emmitsburg, MD, on Sunday, October 6, 2019, to honor 92 firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2018 and 27 firefighters who died in the line of duty in previous years.

The North Carolina firefighters being honored are:

Michael Gene Goodnight
West Liberty VFD
Died 2018
firehero.org/fallen-firefighter/michael-gene-goodnight/

Jeffrey Newton Holden
Orange Rural FD
Died 2019
firehero.org/fallen-firefighter/jeffrey-n-holden/

Michael Eric “Bubba” Pennell
Central Alexander FD
Died 2017
firehero.org/fallen-firefighter/michael-eric-bubba-pennell/

Romulus S. “Tony” Spencer III
Englehard FD
Died 2018
firehero.org/fallen-firefighter/romulus-s-spencer-iii/

William Perry Willis
Asheville FD
Died 2018
firehero.org/fallen-firefighter/william-p-willis/

For full Memorial Weekend information, see firehero.org/events/memorial-weekend

For media information, including state-by-state listings, see firehero.org/about-us/media-center/press-release

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Wake Forest Plans Merger with Town

The Wake Forest Fire Department is planning a merger with the Town of Wake Forest, effective July 1, 2010.

From this web page:

Like many communities in North Carolina, the Town of Wake Forest is experiencing significant transition and growth in service demand, thereby increasing the challenges of providing core local government functions, including fire and rescue services. These “growing pains” are a natural progression of the maturation of a unit of local government and are not unique to Wake Forest.

However, when dynamics change, so too must the infrastructure and systems that enable and support those basic functions.

At the request of the Wake Forest Fire Department Board of Directors (a private not for profit corporation), the Town of Wake Forest is considering consolidating and unifying the Wake Forest Fire Department into the Town government.

As part of its due diligence, the Town requested specialized assistance from EnviroSafe, a NC management consulting firm that specializes in local government public safety services and serves as the sole fire consulting provider for the NC League of Municipalities. In February 2019, EnviroSafe began conducting a feasibility study to encompass several aspects of this potential unification of the Wake Forest Fire Department, Inc. into a department of the Town of Wake Forest. The complete timeline is provided below.

Board of Commissioners Presentation – Sept. 3, 2019

Executive Summary & Recommendations

Feasibility Study 

Study Purpose

Continue reading ‘Wake Forest Plans Merger with Town’ »

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Wake County Fire Commission Meeting – September 19, 2019

September 22
The audio recording of the meeting has been posted. How to play the recording:

1. Navigate to http://www.wakegov.com/fire/commission
2. Click Fire Commission > Minutes & Agendas across the top row navigation options.
3. On the left side of the page, under Minutes, click 2019.
4. On the left side of the page, under Minutes, click 09-19-19.
5. Click audio file.

September 15
The next meeting of the Wake County Fire Commission will be held on Thursday, September 19, 2019, at 7:00 p.m., at the Wake County Emergency Services Training Center, which is located in a warehouse building at 220 South Rogers Lane, in Suite 160.  

This is the first meeting since the March 21 (regular) and April 25 (special called) meetings. 

Agenda is below. View the meeting documents.

  • Meeting Called to Order – Chairman Keith McGee
    • Invocation
    • Pledge of allegiance
    • Roll of Members Present
  • Items of Business
    • Adoption of Minutes for March 21, 2019 Regular and April 25, 2019 Special Called Meetings
    • Approval of Agenda
  • Public Comments
    • Comments from the public will be taken at this time. Members of the public are invited to make comment to the Commission, with a maximum of three minutes per person. A signup sheet for those who wish to speak during the public comments section of the meeting is located at the entrance of the meeting room.
  • Regular Agenda
    • Rules of Procedure Wording Changes
    • Committee Appointments
    • Job Reclassification Request for Eastern Wake Administrative Assistant
    • Review of Eastern Wake Interim Chief Agreement
  • Information Agenda
    • Fire Tax Financial Report
    • Standing Committee Updates
      • Administrative
      • Apparatus
      • Budget
      • Communications
      • Equipment
      • Facility
      • Training
      • Volunteer Recruitment & Retention Committee
    • Chair Report
    • Fire Services Report
  • Other Business
  • Adjournment – Next Meeting – November 21, 2019 Emergency Services Education Center
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Cary, Wake Forest Receive Tillers

Cary Receives First of Two Tillers

On September 1, 2019, the Cary Fire Department received the first of two twin tillers, a 2019 Pierce Enforcer Ascendant 1500/200/107-foot. The second is finishing production. Also, a third tiller will be (or has been?) ordered for this fiscal year. 

Photographer Lee Wilson was on hand, and has posted this and others to this Flickr album. See also a Farmer 911 Emergency Photography on Facebook. They’ve also posted photos and videos. 


Lee Wilson photo.

Wake Forest Receives Training Tiller

Last month, the Wake Forest Fire Department also received a tiller. That is, a training tiller. It’s former Boise Truck 5, a 2007 Crimson/Spartan, 103-foot ladder, no pump. Top and right are WFFD photos. Bottom is a shot from the GovPlanet listing [link expired:https://www.govplanet.com/for-sale/Emergency-Vehicles-2007-Spartan-Gladiator-Aerial-Ladder-Fire-Truck-Idaho/2010968?]. See dozens of more pictures there. 

The department will be training on the truck as they design their new tiller. Over the past several years they’ve look into a second service company and have decided that a tiller is their best option. Congrats!

No word if a bushel of potatoes was included in the purchase.

Wake Forest Fire Department / GovPlanet photos

Current Count for Wake County

Cary – One delivered, one in production, one to be ordered
Raleigh – Four in service
Wake Forest – One delivered for training, one to be ordered

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Visual History of North Carolina Steam Fire Engines

Time for another chart!

Here’s the visual history of the steam fire engines in North Carolina, beginning with their heyday in the 1860s and 1870s. They were labor savers that transformed the hand-powered fire service, although a few steamers were also hand-pulled during their early years.

See the chart in JPG format (2.4M) or PDF format (2.4M).

See the originating historical notes at https://legeros.com/history/nc/steamers.shtml

See more history charts at https://legeros.com/history/charts

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Miss Lillian Brown – Mascot of Greensboro’s Eagle Hose Company

From the Department of Gender Studies, here are a couple stories from the 1890s about the Greensboro Fire Department’s Eagle Hose Company’s “mascot,” Miss Lillian Brown. Plus a photograph that appeared in the 1896 proceedings of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association.

Newspapers copied from newspapers.com, via free access from the NC State Government & Heritage Library. Proceedings excerpt via this library of mine

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Early Charlotte Fire Department History

Also found these last week, very early Charlotte news stories about their first fire engine and fire company. They’re dated between 1834 and 1845.

Plus an 1856 story about a public meeting held for the purpose of organizing, or perhaps re-organizing, the fire department. Good breadcrumb trail for anyone interested in pursuing.

From newspapers.com via free access from the State Library of North Carolina. Originally posted as a pair of postings on Legeros Fire Line on Facebook, one of several about the early histories of the state’s oldest fire departments. Click to enlarge:

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Wilmington Fire Department Organized – 1842

Found these last week. Newspaper article about an early iteration of the Wilmington Fire Department in 1842. Might be the original or first “formal” version of WFD. Plus an editorial from the year before, with detailed suggestions for same. Plus an account of the great 1840 fire, that they reference.

From newspapers.com via free access from the State Library of North Carolina. This is a blog version of a posting from Legeros Fire Line on Facebook, one of several recent postings poking into the earliest histories of the state’s oldest fire departments. Click to enlarge:

Continue reading ‘Wilmington Fire Department Organized – 1842’ »

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Vintage Greenville and Pitt County Rescue Trucks

For your  Monday enjoyment, vintage images of Greenville and Pitt County rescue trucks, as photographed by the Daily Reflector in the 1950s and 1960s, via Joyner Library at East Carolina University, via their Digital Collections.

See individual images on the Facebook side, in this photo album.

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