| Show I SALT LAKES FIRE DEPARTMENT i Sonic ertiiient Kcnmrkk to the City i Council and the Citizens in Re para to Thin Important I matter Each new alarm of fire which clashes on I I the startled ear is but a signal for anoth i I cr act in the weary farce which the pub 1 lie have been compelled to witness from time to time during the past years Injustice In-justice it must be said that the trouble does not lie in any but a very small de grer with the members of the department i but is to be found in the miserable so i called facilities afforded by the city The idea that the four men and the one horse hosecart that constitute the immediately imme-diately available resources of the department I depart-ment are a sufficient force for a city of I the population and area of Salt Lake II could only originate in the brilliant intellects I in-tellects for which our City Fathers are I noted Upon the sounding of an alarm the I first thing to do is to hitch the one horse I to a cart containing 500 feet of hose j this having been sent out the next thing t do is to hunt up a team t take out the engine en-gine This process has been known to take no less than twenty minutes to complete com-plete The usual crowd that gathers around is then called upon 19 take out the hook and ladder ti uck and by this time any fire that has the least get up about it ill have things well in hand and I j I 1 be on the home stretch before anything I I can be done t check it I is n standing shame and criminal reproach that a city of the size ana wealth of Salt Lake should endanger the lives and property ot its citizens in such a manner and the fact that such a state of things has exited for so long can only be attributed to the miserable set of blockheads who for II i well known reasons have been continued j in oflice from year t year in spite of their I acknowledged unntness for any position I requiring even the most ordinary com i mon sense Some day a conflagration will for want of attention at the proper i time sweep over the business portion of I the city and over the ashes of thousands of dollars worth of property and perhaps I of many human beings the citizens will I raise such a voice of indignant protest as will perhaps awaken the sleepyheaded I Council to the fact that they have something I some-thing else t do beside dozing away in i i their easy chairs and only Carousing themselves I them-selves long enough to draw their salaries regularly I Numerous excellent plans for providing us with a Fire Department worthy of the I name have been prepared from time to I time and the most feasible of them should be forced upon the council for consideration I tion as soon as possible Of the numerous numer-ous plans suggested that of Chief Otten ger strikes us as being the simplest and I best There should be says he n central station provided with a twohorse hose cart and from 1000 to 1500 feet of hose In addition to this there should be some halldozen auxiliary stations in various parts of the city These stations should each be provided with men and facilities sufficient to enable them to work with promptness a most requisite thing in most cases where the first few minutes of time are more valuable than the succeeding suc-ceeding hal hour With an arrangement like this no mater in what part of the city an alarm was sounded a cart and men could boon hand promptly and keep the lire in check at least until assistance came from other departments There is no time like the present to ask I the following pertinent questions Is there no way to impress upon the minds of our city officials that if this or something some-thing of a similar nature is not done in the near future the public will without reference to politics ask them to step down and out and give place to those who can be made to realize that this is the nineteenth century Read I you who have so long endangered our lives and properties in the manner you are now doing Read of the wonderful promptness prompt-ness and efficiency of the fire departments depart-ments of small towns of onethird our population and wealth Read and blush for shame when you think of the miserable miser-able farce which your stupidity or something some-thing worse has imposed upon us JEFF B |
