THE DEPARTMENT NEWS
—The San Francisco fire commissioners have asked the supervisors for power to organize an engine company for engine house 18, on Duncan street, between Noe and Sanchez; also a water tower company in the central business portion of the city. In justification of the latter request the commissioners refer to the efficient service of the tower at the late Grand Hotel Fire.
—Afire department will be organized at Haughxille. Ind. Ten wells have been sunk in different parts of the town and a hand engine and plenty of hose have been purchased.
—North Oakland (Cal.) wants a fire company.
—It is reported that hose wagons will replace the present hose reels in the Erie (Pa.) Fire Department.
—The fire department of Sherman, N. Y., has been reorganized with C. H. Corbett, chief; E. N. Myrick, assistant chief; Henry Thayer, secretary; G. W. Strong, treasurer. The department was formerly composed of one large company, but Chief Corbett has appointed ten members of the department as a hook and ladder company.
—The condition of health of Fire Commissioner Tobin of Boston is reported as unchanged. It is feared that he may not be able to resume his official duties for some time to come.
—“A most remarkable thing,” says The Troy Observer, “happened to the Ranketi horses while answering an alarm rom box 53 last Saturday afternoon. W’hen the fire was f reached it was found that the steamer team were without shoes, all eight being gone. But what was all the more remarkable was that an examination of the cart horse’s feet disclosed the fact that he was barefooted. Many of the department horses lose shoes while going to fires, but such a wholesale loss was never before known.”
—The Veteran Firemen’s Association of Lowell, Mass., celebrated the opening of its new headquarters last week.
—At a meeting of the veteran firemen of New Bedford, Mass., last week, 141 men were admitted to membership in the association.
—Chief Rusk of North Brookfield, Mass., has ordered that hereafter steam shall be kept up night and day in the Amoskeag engine.
—The volunteer firemen of Shreveport, La., have resigned and surrendered the apparatus to the city. The department will be reorganized and run by the city.
—Chemical engine company No. 1 of Oyster Bay, L. I. (N. Y.), has been incorporated by Wright H. Remsen, Henry L. Griffin, William E. Nelson, T. Cheshire, George B. Powers, George M. Weed, Daniel Lockwood, John Garvin and others.
—The Veteran Firemen’s Association of Hartford, Conn., is flourishing like a green bay tree.
—Chemist Riviere of Salem, Mass., incautiously smoked a cigar the other day, while preparing a mixture, of which bi-sulphide of carbon and benzine were the principal ingredients; A spark dropped into the mixture, about six gallons in quantity, and Riviere was shockingly burned by the resulting explosion.
—The residents of South Denver, Col., are clamoring for better fire protection for that growing suburb.
—The absence of a quorum has prevented the Lane memorial committee from meeting, but endeavor will be made to meet next week. It is to be regretted that such a lack of interest is shown in the matter.— Troy Observer, November 16.
—It is probable that a fire company will be organized at Je^up, Ga.
—Work on the new fire house at Peru, I11., is progressing rapidly.
—Young America Hose Company No 2 of Flushing, L. I. will celebrate the fifty-fourth anniversary of its organization December 15. This company is the oldest in the town of Flushing.
—The report of the fire commissioners of Albany, N. Y., for the year ending November 1 shows expenditures of $94,687. The loss by fire was $287,271.
—Morris Park, L. I., has now a full fire department. R. A. Haynes is chief engineer ; N. A. Swan, assistant chief ; W. L. Pettitt, foreman of hose company ; W. E. Stetcher, assistant ; T. H. Ryan, foreman of hook and ladder company, and F. N. Ewers, assistant. The house is close to the shops of the Long Island railroad, and the whistle there will be used for alarms.
—Albert R. Welton was found guilty by a justice’s court at Birmingham, Conn., of arson and the death of Mrs. Maria Slie on the morning of April 24, and has been bound over to the Superior Court. Welton was secretary and treasurer of the Shelton Comb Company, and it is charged that, instead of piying off the men the day before the Fire, he left the office about midnight, stole the money, and set fire to the factory to conceal the crime. Mrs. Slie lived in an adjoining tenement and received burns from which she died. This constitutes the offense, a capital crime under Connecticut laws, and the punishment is hanging.
—Nineteen cows and four horses in one barn, and four cows in another, were destroyed by fires believed to have been of incendiary origin on the Bowery Bay road, near Steinway, L. I. on the night of October 14.
—The funeral of William II. Stewart, Fire Commissioner of Yonkers, N. Y., was held in the Reformed Church in that city Monday afternoon. The church and lecture-room were completely Filled, and there were 1500 people waiting outside. Mayor Millward, ex-Mayor Otis, and many other present and former city officials were present, The firemen, the building trades’ organizations, curling clubs from Yonkers and New York, the Young Men’s Republican Club and the Palisade Boat Club attended as societies.
—A dispatch of November 10 from San Jose, Cal., says: “A bold conspiracy to burn a building for insurance was discovered by officers here yesterday, and J. H. Aiken, Nat Goodwin and Charles C. Branson are now under arrest. Aiken, a saloonkeeper, with a stock worth $2000, insured for $iSoo, made an agreement with Branson to burn the saloon for $200. Branson informed Insurance Agents Roberts, Austin, Garland, and the officer was given knowledge. On the advice of the district attorney it was concluded to let the Fire be set and leave a man present to smother it. The man did not show up. and the building was burned about half down. It was the property of James Phelan. The loss is $5000. An insurance agreement between Aiken and Branson was overheard by two concealed witnesses.”
—The New York Fire Commissioners last week fined two members of a hook and ladder company, respectively, thirty and twenty days’ pay for drunkenness.
—The sick list of the New York Fire Department keeps down to about thirty names.
—Chief Dungan of the Muncie (Ind.) Fire Department has appointed Granville Shepp assistant chief.
—Three men were killed and four injured, October 13, at Custer’s stone quarry, at Lima, Ohio, by the explosion of twenty-five pounds of dynamite, and the same quantity of giant powder. The accident is supposed to have occurred in thawing out dynamite cartridges.
—A new hose company has been formed in the Sixth ward, Binghamton, N. Y., with Daniel Lyons as president, and R. Z. Spaulding as foreman.
—If men unto the worlds beyond one earthly thing could take
It isn’t likely they would all the same selection make.
They’d cling to treasured articles of every kind and shape,
And some of us would wisely choose a first-class fire escape.
—Chicago Evening Post.
—Chief G. Kellogg of the Seattle (Wash.) Fire Department puts us under obligations for a copy of his report for the year ending May 31, 1890.
—Salem, Mass., will have a “ superintendent of fire alarm and inspector of wires ” at a salary of $1250.
—A Gloversville, N. Y., item says: “ Kingsboro has been supplied with new hydrants and a hook and ladder truck, and a hose cart will be placed in that part of the city. A fire company will soon be organized there.”
—The project of organizing a hose company at Silver Springs, N. Y., is well under way. Burt Pharis has been chosen secretary, and Andrew Beasley collector.
—A fire department is to be organized at the stockyards at Berkeley, Cal., and a supply of gunpowder for blowing up buildings at fires is to be kept on hand.
—The question of the appointment of a fire marshal, and of the enactment of a law to insure safer building construction, is under discussion at Syracuse, N. Y.
—Niagara Hose Company No. 3, of Winsted, Conn., will give a “ sun-light ” ball Thanksgiving afternoon. Dancing will begin at 2 o’clock and continue until I o’clock in the morning, with an intermission of two hours, from 6 to 8 o’clock. The proceeds of the ball are to be used to purchase a jumper for fire service.
—Mules are used to draw the hook and ladder trucks at Springfield, Mo.
—An Indiana paper says that there is likely to be a legal contest over the fire alarm system at Laporte.
—Says the Salt Lake City Tribune: “ The new fire engine house east of Firemen’s Hall is nearing completion. It is a model of convenience. The smaller steamer and the hose wagon will be placed there; the chemical engine and hook and ladder truck are to be stationed in Firemen’s Hall, while the large steamer and the hose carriage will be stationed in the Second West street engine-house, which is over half built. The chemical engine is now en route west of Omaha.”
—Coon Rapids, Ia., will be equipped for protection against fire. An engine and hose will be bought and fire cisterns sunk in different parts of the town.
—A petition is in circulation at Kearney, Neb., asking for the purchase of 1000 feet more hose and two more hose carts. At present, it is said, there are many houses on the outskirts of the city entirely deprived of fire protection, because there is not hose enough available to reach them.
—The fire department of Newport, Ky., is to be provided with 800 feet more hose.
—At a meeting of residents of the vicinity of Sycawayville, near Troy, N. Y., in response to a call issued by the Ralph Manchester Fire Company, Acting Chief Green of Troy suggested that for the fire protection of so scattered a neighborhood, and, considering the usual state of the roads, three or four light chemical engines, which could be run and operated by two or three men each, and located at different points, would be more useful than a heavy two horse engine. The meeting approved the suggestion.
—A. E. Hill has been appointed assistant engineer of the Norwich (Conn.) fire department.
—The Naugatuck (Conn.) fire commissioners have organized a fire department of fifty-nine men, viz.: six commissioners, chief engineer and two assistants, and fifty hosemen.
—Ballston, N. Y.. has received a handsome four-wheeled hose carriage from the works of the Button Fire Engine Company.
—Recent hose sales reported at Chicago are: Muncie, Ind., 500 feet White Anchor; 500 feet Hercules; 500 feet Chicago Fire Hose Company. Mound City, Mo., 500 feet White Anchor. Garnet, Kans., 1200 feet White Anchor. Fremont, Neb.. 500 feet White Anchor.
—Says The Reporter of Horseheads, N. Y.: “ There are no fire escapes on the present school building. Should it take fire during school hours, lives would certainly be lost. Make this impossible by voting for the appropriation for a new school building.”
—“We notice,” says The Altoona Graphic News, “ that in several cities persons have been arrested and fined for neglecting to equip their buildings properly with fire escapes as required by law, and for violating the fire ordinance with regard to the storage of oils and other explosives. If this were done in Altoona the city pocket-book would be filled to bursting.”
—The lives of nearly 100 persons were placed in danger on Friday night of last week by a fire of unknown origin in a tenement house on Suffolk street, New York. The fire was discovered burning in three places in an unoccupied room, in which a kerosene jug also stood handy. The fire marshal is investigating the case.
—Assistant Foreman Edward Tobin and Fireman Francis Coyle, of Engine Company No. 23 the New York Fire Department, was seriously injured last Saturday night by falling through a skylight in the roof of a burning stable on Fiftyfifth street. The 150 horses were all taken out in safety.
—The new Hayes truck, just received by the Crockett Hose Co. of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., cost $2400.