This black-and-white United States Navy Training Film, produced by Wilding Picture Productions, Inc. in 1960, is titled “Damage Control: Shipboard Fire Fighting, Basic” and covers shipboard fire-fighting basics. The picture opens with ships at sea an a reminder that vessels underway are at constant risk of fire, which can spread and place both the ship and her crew in danger. It is up to the sailors on board to know how to extinguish a blaze should one occur, the narrator explains starting at mark 00:45. At mark 01:10, the narrator discusses assignment of ship personnel to a fire party and the role of each man in that party in combatting a fire. At mark 02:00, the narrator identifies the various steps in fire suppression: locating and reporting the fire, isolating the fire area, fighting the fire, and overhauling the area, and setting a reflash watch. Each topic is discussed in greater detail as the film continues, with proper courses of action shown either through animations or practice drills. By mark 11:25, the narrator is ready to review the steps already covered, giving sailors a chance to once again cover the proper procedures. “Remember, fighting a fire aboard ship is a complicated operation…,” the narrator says starting at mark 13:25. “Fire is your enemy.”
BASIC FIRE FIGHTING ABOARD SHIP 1960 U.S. NAVY TRAINING FILM 46844
- Thread starter mack
- Start date
This black-and-white United States Navy Training Film, produced by Wilding Picture Productions, Inc. in 1960, is titled “Damage Control: Shipboard Fire Fighting, Basic” and covers shipboard fire-fighting basics. The picture opens with ships at sea an a reminder that vessels underway are at constant risk of fire, which can spread and place both the ship and her crew in danger. It is up to the sailors on board to know how to extinguish a blaze should one occur, the narrator explains starting at mark 00:45. At mark 01:10, the narrator discusses assignment of ship personnel to a fire party and the role of each man in that party in combatting a fire. At mark 02:00, the narrator identifies the various steps in fire suppression: locating and reporting the fire, isolating the fire area, fighting the fire, and overhauling the area, and setting a reflash watch. Each topic is discussed in greater detail as the film continues, with proper courses of action shown either through animations or practice drills. By mark 11:25, the narrator is ready to review the steps already covered, giving sailors a chance to once again cover the proper procedures. “Remember, fighting a fire aboard ship is a complicated operation…,” the narrator says starting at mark 13:25. “Fire is your enemy.”
1960, when this film was produced, was way prior to the Vietnam Nam era. Hokey? Please consider this, which I am writing off the top of my head tonight. Some specifics may be askew but the gist is correct.
On 1 June 1934, Captain Harold Burke of the FDNY was promoted to battalion chief and assigned to 12th Battalion, then quartered at H&L 14 on 125th St. in Harlem. On the same day my father was appointed to the FDNY and assigned to H&L 14. Chief Burke used to refer to my dad as his “first Proby”, and took him under his wing.
In June 1941, my dad made the Lieutenant’s list, which then was the minimum amount of service time to qualify for the promotion. Burke took him out of the tiller seat and made him his driver, to show him the ropes of being a company officer. Six months later, right after Pearl Harbor, Chief Harold Burke, a WWI Navy veteran, was commissioned as an officer in the United States Naval Reserve. In the interim, 1938, my father’s brother Charles (whom I have referred to elsewhere on this forum over the years) was also appointed to the FDNY at H&L 37 in the Bronx. In 1942, he enlisted in the US Navy.
Commander Harold Burke was assigned by the US Navy to assemble a firefighting team at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. These men, who ultimately totaled some 260, would be trained to bring professional fire fighting techniques, as practiced by the FDNY, Boston FD, etc,. to the fleet afloat. Through my Dad’s influence (what else are rabbi’s for?) Uncle Charles was selected by Commander Burke as one of those 260.
For much of the next year these men were put through an intensive program to adapt their firefighting knowledge to the confines of ships at sea. Bunking at the Navy Yard, shore leave was spent comfortably at home with the wife or otherwise fighting the “Battle of Times Square”. Then came a fire on the USS Wakefield, several miles off the coast of the US. Commander Burke and his men were ferried out to the ship and proceeded to fight the blaze. In particular, it was their aggressive techniques to go in and attack the fire at the source (as seen in this “hokey” training film) rather than attempting to just “surround and drown”. Thay were also instrumental in designing the Navy Nozzle, fog and straight stream, which any of us who have ever fought fires are familiar. The entire enterprise of this firefighting team was validated in this effort.
Commander Burke’s men spread far and wide throughout the US Navy and successfully trained many more sailors in their methods, saving countless ships and lives. After victory in Times Square, Uncle Charles wound up on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier in the Pacific and was put to the test. Commander Harold Burke was awarded a Presidential citation and Legion of Merit for his work as the OIC. In 1947 he was named Chief of Department of the FDNY but never served in that capacity, retiring on the day he was appointed to the post.
Thanks Mack for posting this Navy training film. A lot of FDNY history behind it.
Last edited: