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SHartland Winters

DO YOU KNOW

SOME OF THE OLD LONG NOZZLES WERE COVERED IN STRING.

FROM WHAT I CAN SURMISE, IT WAS TO INSULATE AGAINST THE HOLDING OF A COLD PIPE.

 ALSO IT PROVIDED A BETTER SURFACE TO GRIP, VERSES METAL.

 WHEN THE STRING WORE OFF,  IT WAS A SIMPLE MATTER OF REPLACEMENT .

DO YOU KNOW

WHAT TYPE OF DOORS, AND THEIR FORCIBLE ENTRY, 

DID US OLD TIMERS LEARN ABOUT IN THE TRAINING SCHOOL THAT , I DON'T THINK, THE YOUNG WHIPPER

SNAPPERS

 DON'T LEARN ABOUT TODAY.

 I COULD BE WRONG, BUT I DON'T THINK THESE DOORS ARE DISCUSSED, AS THERE AREN'T MANY AROUND

ANYMORE.

THINK OLDTIMER, THINK

 


REVOLVING DOORS

SOME OF THE DOWNTOWN STORES HAD THEM  AND TO GET A LINE THROUGH

THEM THEY HAD TO BE DISCONNECTED.

THEY WERE VERY EXPENSIVE DOORS AND FROM WHAT WE LEARNED THE "CURVED GLASS"

  SURROUNDING THE DOORS WERE EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE, SO YOU DIDN'T EVEN THINK

ABOUT BREAKING THE GLASS

AS I CAN RECALL, THE FOUR SECTIONS OF A SET OF REVOLVING DOORS WERE  TIED

TOGETHER AND

 WE, SOMEHOW, WERE ABLE TO BREAK THEM INTO TWO PAIRS.  THEN RATHER   HAVING

FOUR DOORS,  90 DEGREES FROM EACH OTHER WE GOT TWO PAIRS, PARALLEL  TO EACH OTHER..

I CAN'T

 RECALL EXACTLY HOW WE DISCONNECTED  THEM. IT WAS 42 YEARS AGO AND AFTER LEARNING

IT AT

 SCHOOL I NEVER HAD TO DO IT.

DO YOU KNOW

IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE THEY USED LARGE PILLOWS

FOR

A LIFE NET FOR THE PEOPLE TO JUMP INTO.

DO YOU KNOW

IN THE EARLY COLONIAL TIMES, THERE WAS A

  FIRE FIGHTING FORCE PRIOR TO A POLICE FORCE.

DO YOU KNOW

WHY A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO YOU HEARD ABOUT

"HALON FIRE EXTINGUISHERS" AND NOW YOU DON'T.

IT WAS FOUND, IN ITS PRODUCTION, TO HARM THE

EARTHS OZONE LAYER.

MAKE SOMEONE SMILE  TODAY
WAYNE
 

DO YOU KNOW

WHILE MOST CITIES HAVE FIRE HYDRANTS THAT THEY MAINTAIN , THERE ARE ALSO SOME 

PRIVATE ONES

 THAT THE VARIOUS COMPANIES  MAINTAIN ON THEIR PROPERTY

DO YOU KNOW

IN SOME COMMUNITIES, A FIRE ASSOCIATION FORMED AMONG A SELECT NUMBER OF

"MEMBERS" ,WITH

 THEM ONLY RESPONDING TO A FELLOW MEMBERS HOUSE FIRE.. IT APPEARS, THAT ONCE

THE REALIZATION

OF A FIRE SPREADING FROM NON MEMBERS TO MEMBERS HOUSES BECAME APPARENT, THIS

FORM OF

 FIRE ASSOCIATION WAS ABANDONED.

DO YOU KNOW

WHAT THE EXPRESSION "LIGHT EARLY" WAS

IT WAS IN REFERENCE TO WHEN YOU LIT THE FIRE IN THE STEAMER TOO SOON, BEFORE THE

MEN AND

 HORSES WERE READY TO RESPOND.

WHEN THIS HAPPENED, THE SMOKE FILLED THE ENGINE HOUSE, NECESSITATING THE WASHING

OF THE WALL UPON RETURNING.

YOU TRIED TO LIGHT THE FIRE JUST AS YOU WOULD BE EXITING THE DOORS

DO YOU KNOW

WHAT A LUNGMOTOR WAS.

IT WAS AN EARLY RESUSCITATOR.

DO YOU REALIZE

THAT THE EARLY STREETS, WHILE HAVING NAMES , DIDN'T HAVE A STREET SIGN ON EVERY

CORNER.

  THEREFORE THE FIREMEN HAD TO REALLY KNOW THEIR DISTRICT

DO YOU KNOW

THE REASON FOR THE HIGH MANPOWER ( 9 TO 11 FIREMEN ) ON THE OLD NON AERIAL

 LADDER TRUCKS WAS IT TOOK THAT MANY MEN TO RAISE THE

HEAVY GROUND LADDERS

DO YOU KNOW

SOME OLD LADDER COMPANIES HAD A HOSE CART ASSIGNED TO THEM, FOR RUNS ,IN CASE AN

ENGINE

 DIDN'T ARRIVE FAST ENOUGH.

MAKE SOMEONE SMILE TODAY
WAYNE
 

DO YOU KNOW

WHEN I CAME ON THE JOB  (IN  1962)  I HAD HEARD FROM REAL OLD TIMERS ABOUT THE CITY OF DETROIT

AND THE  ISSUANCE OF "SCRIP" ,DURING THE DEPRESSION YEARS.  
MOST OTHER CITIES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES ALSO ISSUED SCRIP.
FROM WHAT I UNDERSTOOD, THE FIREMEN WERE PAID IN SCRIP.
BEING A YOUNG "WHIPPER SNAPPER"  I JUST OVERHEARD THE CONVERSATION AND DIDN'T ASK ANY

QUESTIONS.
 AT THAT STAGE OF MY CAREER I WAS :
"LOWER THEN WHALE SHIT"

FROM VARIOUS  WEB SITES

BELOW ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF DETROIT SCRIP.

disappears from commerce. The Great Depression was certainly no exception. Depression scrip offers

a colorful and enriching look at this sad time in our history.
 

Scrip became necessary during the Great Depression because legal tender was simply in short supply. This was

caused by a variety of factors including widespread bank failures, President Roosevelt’s declaring a banking

holiday which shut down many banks at least temporarily in response to the failures, delinquent taxes at the local

level, and a general unwillingness by those in possession of currency to spend it.
Scrip was the solution for many local governments that still had bills and employees to pay and

merchants who needed to keep the wheels of commerce grinding along.

in a bank or by anticipated tax receipts. The success of an issue depended primarily upon the willingness of merchants and the

public to accept it.
As you can imagine, scrip may not have always spent at its face value when legal tender was available as an

alternative.
Its use declined in the mid-1930’s as the government was able to get more legal tender into circulation.

acceptable, e.g., a store that would receive it in exchange for goods.
The term scrip has also been applied to money of fractional denominations, and to gift certificates and the like that

can be used to pay for purchases from stores, restaurants, and other businesses.
___________________________________________

The Depression of 1929 was a hard time for the residents of the Grand Traverse region. Banks were closed for a while, money was in short supply, and many people lost their jobs. Scrip “money” issued by the City of Traverse City attempted to propel the economy. Directions on the scrip “this certificate must be exchanged at least once a week” indicate that officials were fearful the scrip would be put away and not spent. Presumably the scrip was to be accepted by local merchants, the success of this program is not known. The Grand Traverse area was fortunate because there were many nearby farms to supply food and most people had relatives or friends who were still farming and could share meat, vegetables, and fruit. While jobs were scarce, the Oval Wood Dish Factory employed many people (including the editor’s grandfather Harold Feiger, who made 11 cents an hour). The Depression lingered in the area into the late 1930s.
Many men headed south to the automobile plants near Detroit, which began to increase production as the build-up to World War II began.
 

MAKE SOMEONE SMILE TODAY...................................................ESPECIALLY IF YOU GOT  $$ U.S. CURENCY $$
                                                                                                                FOR YOUR LABOR AND NOT SCRIP
WAYNE
 

BEFORE THIS , WITH ONLY HOT AND COLD FAUCETS, YOU EITHER BURNED  OR FROZE YOUR HANDS TO WASH UP.
BY THE WAY, OUR UNIT THOUGHT THIS UP.  IT TOOK THE "OFU" 6 MONTHS TO FIGURE IT OUT. THEY STILL TURNED JUST ONE FAUCET ON AT A TIME. THEY EVEN THOUGHT THAT IF YOU TURN ONE FAUCET ON MORE THEN THE OTHER ONE THAT THE WATER (IF COLD)
WOULD BYPASS THE OPENING IN THE HOSE AND BACK FILL THE HOT WATER FAUCET ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE WATER HEATER.

MAKE SOMEONE SMILE TODAY
WAYNE
 

DETROIT – December 9, 2002 – The Detroit Fire Department joins the

Southeastern Michigan Chapter of the American Red Cross to help collect blankets for homeless shelters and victims of
 

disasters in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. The Fire Department is collecting new twin-size blankets for the
 

Red Cross Blanket Days for the Homeless campaign at 45 fire stations throughout the city of Detroit.
 

“Our department is pleased to assist the American Red Cross in collecting blankets for the homeless,” said

City of Detroit executive fire commissioner Tyrone C. Scott.

            With the frigid temperatures last week that are likely to continue through the coming months, the 

DETROIT FIRE DEPARTMENT along with other organizations and individuals, is working to help keep someone warm this
 

winter. The Red Cross has distributed 9,337 blankets so far this year, and expects more requests at over 80 local homeless
 

shelters. In addition, as the winter fire season is upon us, the Red Cross wants to make sure that disaster victims receive the
 

comfort a warm blanket provides.
 

MAKE SOMEONE SMILE TODAY.....................THE ONES THAT RECEIVED THE BLANKETS ARE .
WAYNE
 

 It's  a fire tool called a Pulaski tool, it is named after the forest services   

first famous fire fighter Ed Pulaski

 

     He  devised a combination tool, half ax and half mattock, to send into the field. There was not
 

much enthusiasm when he first presented the device to forest supervisors. But he persisted,
 

lengthening the shaft, widening the ax, shrinking the mattock, all in his backyard forge. He sent
 

out the tool with smokechasers. Only in the field, he insisted, could its value be tested. The
 

smokechasers soon took it to heart. By 1920, so did the 

Northern Region of the Forest Service, which ordered commercial companies to manufacture it
 

out of industrial steel. Along with the shovel, the pulaski tool became the basic implement of
 

fire control, and the one tool both universal and unique to wildland fire.
 

MAKE SOMEONE SMILE TODAY
WAYNE
 

DO YOU KNOW
WHAT THESE ARE
..





BACK IN THE 60s EVERY ENGINE HOUSE HAD THESE,  EITHER IN THEIR BASEMENT OR ATTIC.

THEY ALSO HAD FIRE BOOTS.  THE BOOTS WERE THE HIGH ONES, BUT VERY THINLY MADE, THEY DIDN'T

 HAVE ANY LINING OR INSOLES.

I ONLY SAW A FEW OF THE WHITE HELMETS AS MOST OF THE EQUIPMENT CONSISTED OF

THE BLACK HELMETS   ,FIRE COATS. AND THE BOOTS

NOTE: I HAD TO CREATE THESE PICTURES AS I COULDN'T FIND ANY.

FROM WHAT I COULD FIND OUT, THESE WERE ISSUED DURING THE WORLD WAR TWO ERA.

LATER,  DETROIT HAD A CITY DEPARTMENT GARAGE SALE.  THE APPARATUS DIVISION CAME AROUND WITH

 THEIR TRUCKS AND PICKED EVERYTHING UP.

POINT OF INFORMATION:

MANY OF US WORE THIS EQUIPMENT THAT WEEK IN JULY  "1967"

DURING THE RECALL, WE WERE TOLD TO REPORT TO THE NEAREST COMMAND POST TO OUR ENGINE HOUSE .

 I RAN AT ENGINE 31 AND OUR COMMAND POST WAS ENGINE 42.

NATURALLY WE DIDN'T HAVE OUR FIRE GEAR WITH US SO WE WENT TO THE BASEMENT AND GRABBED THE

 CIVIL DEFENSE STUFF.

FROM  MANY OF THE PICTURES IN THE NEWSPAPERS  PEOPLE SAW US IN THESE CLOTHES AND PROBABLY

FIGURED WE WERE FROM THE CIVIL DEFENSE OR AUXILIARIES. WHILE THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN SOME

 CIVILIANS,  MOST WERE JUST REGULAR FIREMEN USING THIS FIRE GEAR

UNTIL WE WERE ABLE TO GET OUR OWN.

REMEMBER
WAYNE
 DO YOU KNOW
THERE WERE WOODEN FIRE HYDRANTS BEFORE METAL ONES.

BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE.
NOTE: THEY WERE FILLED WITH MANURE TO KEEP FROM FREEZING

FROM A WEB SITE

Wooden fire hydrant, c. 1842.
Before cast iron came into use,
water was piped underground through wooden conduits


MAKE SOMEONE SMILE TODAY................................  YOU'RE ON HYDRANTS TODAY, OLDTIMER. YOU HAVE TO CHANGE THE OLD             WAYNE                                                                                               MANURE FOR FRESH STUFF

DO YOU KNOW

IN ONE OF MY PAST ARTICLES, I MADE A MISTAKE IN SHOWING WHAT TYPE OF PIKE POLES WE USE IN DETROIT.
BELOW IS THE CORRECT PICTURE OF DETROIT'S PIKE POLES


MAKE SOMEONE SMILE TODAY
WAYNE
 

DO YOU REALIZE

HOW THE ENGINES  CONTROL PANELS HAVE CHANGED THROUGHOUT THE YEARS