Don’t Believe Those Crusty Old-Timers
features
The Editor’s Opinion Page
Crusty old-timers will tell you that the fire service never changes. Never mind all that fancy new stuff—men, water and apparatus still provide the mainstay of a fire department. But as a senior member of the COTs, we find ourselves disagreeing with this view, particularly after reading this issue.
Way back in 1938, when we first donned a blue uniform, the communications system was the same as it had been going back 50 years or more—alarm boxes and cables and private telephones linked fire fighters with each other and the citizens they served. A telegraph key in an alarm box that connected with the “telegraph bureau” provided the usual means for summoning help, and it was a wise chief’s aide who carried a pocket full of change when the paid telephone had to be used.
Some 42 years later, on reading about the Minneapolis Fire Department’s $1.2 million computer-aided dispatching system, it is hard to believe that we old-timers did so well with the equipment we had.
In another area, we can recall being dumped in the back of a public ambulance and rushed bouncing to a city hospital, along with three others who also had a dose of chlorine gas. We received no treatment on the scene or en route. And if we ever had present-day breathing apparatus, we wouldn’t have been en route in the first place. Citizens overcome or injured at fires also received the same kind of treatment—a far cry from the emergency medical service provided by the Bountiful City, Utah, Fire Department to its members and citizens. (Note how this service is tied in with radio communications.)
In still another area, who would have believed in 1938 that future fire fighters would have to be trained in a complete module that reported electronically the actions of smoke detectors, audible alarm devices, manual alarm stations, fire detection and manual monitoring panel and what have you. Copies of this module can be found in the lobbies of high-rise buildings and warehouses. In the good old days, all the fire fighter had going for him was an outside sprinkler alarm, his nose and a flashlight.
Finally, this issue has an article that comes out of the Institute of Human Performance. Now, back in 1938 anyone who mentioned an institute of human performance would have been laughed off the apparatus floor. But this article is aimed at keeping fire fighters alive, healthy and performing efficiently—a much desired change for the better.
Beyond the articles in this issue, there are other areas that confute the old-timers. Apparatus is one of them. We can recall seeing apparatus on the fireground that had solid rubber tires, two-wheel friction brakes, a chain drive and a compression release (who remembers what that was?). Compared to today’s apparatus they are truly antique.
So, getting back to the crusty old-timers, we agree that it’s still men, water and apparatus—but what a change in all three!
