CRIPPLED FIREMEN WILL
BE APPOINTED WATCHMEN.
Answer Fire Alarms in Absence of
Engine Company and Notify
Nearest Station.
With the consent of the fire and water board a new rule will go into effect in the several stations of the fire department today which will provide places for firemen who have become crippled in the service, and at the same time afford a public protection that has been urgently needed. John C. Egner, chief, will submit to the board the names of men who will act as watchmen at the several houses from 6 o'clock in the evening until 6 o'clock in the morning, to answer telephone calls for aid in the event of a fire breaking out while the apparatus might be out to another fire.
The precaution has been deemed necessary on account of the disastrous results from fires which have occurred during the absence of the apparatus. Under the new plan, if a fire breaks out in the district where more than one company is assigned, the watchman will be on hand to answer telephone calls and inform the next nearest station of the emergency, and it can be answered. Under the present arrangement, stations are deserted at times in response to other alarms, and instances are on record when they have been summoned during the interim, and, of course, there was no one on watch to answer the call.
The idea of having someone at the fire stations at all hours of the day originated with Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., and Alderman C. J. Cronin, and they prevailed upon the fire and water board to adopt it.
