You can lead a horse…
John A. Jeffries, Coordinator
, Fire & Emergency Services Training Institute, St. Clair County Community College
, Port Huron, Michigan, writes: “Do you know why the old fire stations had spiral staircases instead of stairs? I learned the answer from some Lexington (KY) firefighters. Years ago, horses would actually climb the stairway. Getting a horse down was another problem. Spiral staircases prevented this from happening. As of the 1980s, an engine company in Lexington still used its spiral staircase.”
Fire poles: easier to go down them than up them!
From Kai Rieger, Jackson Township Fire Department, in Stark County, Ohio: I was at a fire station during an open house, when a well meaning new firefighter was explaining his partially true fire pole concept to several children and their parents. He looked at the small audience while leaning on the pole and asked if they knew how the fire pole came into being. After they shrugged their shoulders, he stated that the fire pole was invented because the horses climbed the stairs in days of old. The visitors were amazed, finished their tour, and left, thanking the fire department for its hospitality.
After the crowd cleared, I turned to the new firefighter and asked if I heard him correctly about poles being introduced because of horses climbing the stairs. He said, “Yes, it’s true.
I said, “Did they do away with the stairs?” He again said, “Yes.”
I asked, “Well, Einstein, how did the firefighters get to the upper floors, climb the pole?” He shook his head and said, “I guess I never thought about that!”
I guess you could say the origin of the fire poles became “lost in the translation” over the years!
Hey, where’s that car going?
From Mike Nasta, Newark (NJ) Fire Department: Firefighters were fighting a car fire on Route 46 in New Jersey when the car started driving away. Apparently when the car caught on fire, the driver turned off the car and fled, but he left the car in gear (it had a manual transmission). The fire caused some crossed wires, which in turn triggered the starter, and since the car was in gear it started moving forward.
The members ran after it with the hoseline. They tried throwing things under the front wheels to stop the car—first an ax, then a halligan. Finally one of the members was quick enough to run back to the apparatus, grab some chocks, and throw them under the front tires. That finally stopped the car, and they continued to extinguish the fire.
When fighting demo car fires …
A number of years ago, a North Jersey fire department that always prided itself on a great fire prevention program prepared a public display of “firefighters in action” as part of its fire prevention week festivities.
With the public watching, the members “torched” a junk car that was brought to the center of town for the demonstration. The apparatus arrived with lights and sirens. Members stretched handlines. The people of the community were very impressed.
Suddenly the car’s starter wiring shorted out from the fire, the starter engaged, and the car started lunging forward while still burning! Fortunately, it got caught up in a chain link fence, which stopped its advance, and the firefighters extinguished the fire … and disconnected the battery!
The YentaDiane Feldman, a 21-year veteran of PennWell Corp., is executive editor of Fire Engineering and conference director of FDIC. She has a B.A. in English communications. She has been a yenta (look it up) for most of her life. If you have a story for the Yenta, e-mail dianef@pennwell.com.
