After I married and moved to Newark, NJ., I was an active member of the Bell and Siren Club there. Sorta semi-quasi-unofficially, we members would occasionally be put to work at major jobs. The canteen crew set up and served, we others would man lines, and do a substantial bit of generally outside firefighting, occasionally inside with the troops of the NFD. I did this for many years until I moved to suburban Washington, DC, and became a founding member of Prince Georges County's Bowie VFD Company 39. I graduated from the basic firefighting course at U of Maryland, and completed a number of different advanced pump courses there. I was very active.
One fine weekend in 1955, my buddy Bill Shotts of Montgomery County's Sandy Spring VFD, Ben Griffin of the Wheaton Rescue Squad and the Friendship Fire Ass'n. and I loaded our gear and drove up to the Big Apple for some weekend buffing action. We arrived at the Battery and got the tour of the Fighter. As we were taking up, the bells started to hit in for a second alarm at box 290 in Brooklyn, followed by an immediate third. Off we went. This job on June 12, 1955 eventually went to a boro call with 4 blocks of heavy industry going. There was enough fire for everyone. We suited up and soon found ourselves running a multiversal for a couple of hours in the thick of the action. As things quieted down, the fire largely under control, we were approached by Ass't Chief of Department Tom Harnett, and he asked us who we were...I pictured us on bread and water for life. When we told him we were from Washington, he shook hands with each of us, and told us he appreciated our help. What a warm memory, what a fine gentleman. What a fire...
One fine weekend in 1955, my buddy Bill Shotts of Montgomery County's Sandy Spring VFD, Ben Griffin of the Wheaton Rescue Squad and the Friendship Fire Ass'n. and I loaded our gear and drove up to the Big Apple for some weekend buffing action. We arrived at the Battery and got the tour of the Fighter. As we were taking up, the bells started to hit in for a second alarm at box 290 in Brooklyn, followed by an immediate third. Off we went. This job on June 12, 1955 eventually went to a boro call with 4 blocks of heavy industry going. There was enough fire for everyone. We suited up and soon found ourselves running a multiversal for a couple of hours in the thick of the action. As things quieted down, the fire largely under control, we were approached by Ass't Chief of Department Tom Harnett, and he asked us who we were...I pictured us on bread and water for life. When we told him we were from Washington, he shook hands with each of us, and told us he appreciated our help. What a warm memory, what a fine gentleman. What a fire...
