Before the Alarm (sound)

pretty SW the way the people of Midfield respond to all this you bet Mr Mayor when it comes to firefighting every grown up is a kid at heart [Music] yes and we owe it to them to get after some of our fire hazards hazards what do you mean well Jim not long before you took office last month the national board of fire Underwriters made a complete survey of Midfield fire hazards firefighting facilities everything they began with the water supply it's right near the front of the report here first the they looked over the reservoir next they went out to see our pumping station which supplies the reservoir and maintains water pressure in [Music] Midfield here the water superintendent and one of the engineers from the far Underwriters made a thorough inspection they checked the generators which furnish power to the Wells then the pumps that keep the pressure up all over the city no matter how much Waters being used and pump the water out through the piping system that leads to the city Mains into the reservoir they examined the gauges which show the vacuum steam and water pressures and the meter which registers the flow of water they checked the fire extinguishers and the hose and because a fire up the pumping station would cut off the city's water supply they looked for fire hazards they found a bad one too the ceiling of that building is made of wood but even more hazardous they pointed out we've got only two pumps to supply the whole city you know we use the full capacity of one pump all the time for ordinary needs looking further into that problem they checked the fire hydrants in different parts of the town to make sure that our water pressure was strong enough the hydrant tested okay and the engineer felt sure that we have plenty of pressure there and adequate flow under normal conditions but what if we had a big fire and one of those pumps broke down would have no Reserve power I'm glad you brought this up Jack you're a good insurance man with real concern for the city's welfare but what about your Department chief surely the underwriters couldn't find anything wrong there well they had some good things to say say about the fire department Mr Mayor and some that weren't so good first thing we did of course was to inspect the alarm system you know the fire alarm building is set off by itself the engineer noticed that right away so there's no danger of it Catching Fire from some other building when we got inside we showed the engineer what kind of equipment we have then we put on a demonstration of the way an alarm comes in we had one the men pull a firebox so we can see how all that Machinery Works how they automatic register tape gives the operator the location of the fire how he sets it up on the transmitter which sends the alarm out to the nearest fire station then we went over to headquarters here we look at the aerial ladder truck and the Pumpers [Applause] well I guess I don't have to tell you what Pride the men taking all their equipment so naturally the engineered didn't find anything WR just the same to make sure that everything was in order we checked up on some of the routine pieces such as special hose connections hand lanterns heavy duty rubber gloves and that new fog nozle that we found so good in fighting an oil Blaze then we had an alarm demonstration [Music] [Music] well in one minute flat they were out on the street for the [Music] apparatus after that we took the Pumpers up to Sandy Creek for a draft test to try them out by taking suction from the Stream the new one lifted water in good time the pump pressure motor speed were satisfactory so he went over to check the discharge at the [Music] nozzle a PTO reading show it delivered a full rated capacity [Music] the Oldman didn't quite measure up to required quantities and pressures but we taken care of that of course and now we keep our Pumpers in condition by making regular tests ourselves we give strict civil service exams to all our new men and we're starting a regular schedule of frequent drills just as the arer writers recommend uh now that we got a suitable location the result will be good men who know their jobs men who know how to handle themselves not only on the ground but aoft on the aerial ladders on the pompier ladders and they'll know how to handle whatever equipment they need regular hours of training based on regular study of the underwriters training bulletins and those boys should be ready for any emergency plenty of practice on each other will give them steady nerves when they actually have to get someone out of a tight spot rookies as well as oldtimers will know what it feels like to carry a man down a ladder for instance and doing it often will give them the confidence they need when they come up against the real thing and of course Every Man's getting a thorough training in first aid they have to be prepared to haul hose into a smoke filled basement or over a rooftop and any fear of height they have will soon disappear with practice but even so it's always wise to know how to get down in a hurry safely yes the interest of each one of these men shows he's got the Stu it takes to be a firer but on the way back when we saw all the building going on around the new Factory the engineer insisted that we need a new fire station out at that end of town that's right and the city council ought to require safer construction by making a far underwriter's model building code a law right [Music] now and you know Mr Mayor so many new risks come up all the time bigger crowds assemble the department is handicapped by not having an upto-date fire prevention ordinance like this one yes Jim if we don't give the fire department the authority to correct dangerous conditions here's what we're [Music] risking here's the area of serious configration hazard in Midfield someday that whole section might go up in Flames changes like these will cost money Jack public money A lot of people are going to wonder what the insurance business is getting out of this thing well everybody benefits whether they carry insurance or not but let's look at the record the policy holder pays an average of 67 cents today for the same protection that used to cost him a17 that's not accidental that's how much fire prevention measures have lowered the cost to the public of fire Insurance in the last 35 years okay boys you Soul [Music] me I want the chief of the water department the building inspector and the head of the city council ask him to come over here right away well Jack we're going to make Midfield the best protected town in the country we're going to make history with this fire prevention campaign we'll do our own pioner