Show We Ve Cant Can't Can t Afford Inferior Fire Eng Engines l es The scream of a siren a flashing red body and body and the fire engine passes The crowds gather watch it disappear into distance and dis- dis disperse disperse dis disperse perse The drama drama that is an nn in- in intrinsic intrinsic in intrinsic part of fire fighting seems never ne to diminish Reaching the scene of the fire the engine ensine stops the ho hose c is run out the great pump starts start pulsating pulsating pulsating ing Perhaps the motor will be call call- called call called ed 01 upon to perform for 24 hours nt at a stretch in arctic or tropical weather without an instants instant's pause If it fails it may me mean n that another fire has gotten beyond con control that that more hundreds s or thou thou- thousands thousands thousands sands or millions of dollars in property values have been destroy destroy- destroyed that cod ed that possibly irreplaceable lives li have been needlessly lost Obviously its it's what is under the red paint that counts in a fire en- en engine en engine gine ine Good engines and bad look as alike as do imitation diamonds and real ones to the lav lay ob observer erver Most of us couldn't tell the dif cUt differ dif difference fer ference ferrice nce between an engine that had been bee haphazardly assembled by some truck builder and the fin fin- finest finest fin finest est product of the standard mak mak- maker's mak- mak maker's maker's ers er's art alt without with a n look atthe at the the name plate But wed we'd know the dif dif- difference difference dif difference ference soon enough if a difficult fire broke out on our property The best fire apparatus is always the cheapest fire apparatus Standard engines are an honest economy standard standard non ones are a luxury that no community ron can afford |