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735 "O" St. (Under the Viaduct)
475-9861
(Station 1 reacts to public’s dema nds
By John Payne
Staff Reporter
The sign at the City/County
Welfar eBuilding read as follows -
‘You may pick up food stamps
today if the last number of your
social security card ends in 1-2.“
On the floor, in the corner of the
office, lay Delbert, an elderly man
who was suffering from what was
initially thought to be a heart at
tack. A crowd of welfare and food
stamp recipients looked on as the
poor derelict was attended to by
the men of Engine 2, Fire Station 1.
Joe Millard, trained extensively
in cardiac monitor use, was the
team’s Emergency Medical Team
Defibrillation technician He ad
ministered oxygen while his part
ners Mark Munger and Glen Kempf
checked Delbert s vital signs.
By the end of my 12 hours at Fire
Station 1 I would be used to the
routine. Engine 2 would be dis
patched to the scene, assess the
situation, gather preliminary infor
mation for Eastern Ambulance,
who would in turn shuttle the pa
tient off to the nearest hospital
assisted by a Lincoln Police Depart
ment escort.
My day at Station 1,1801 Q St.,
had begun two hours earlier, when
Assistant Fire Chief Dale Boettcher
introduced me to the men of C
shift. They were on their last day of
duty awaiting what fire fighters call
Kelly Days, an eight-day period of
rest named for a Chicago fireman
who pleaded with city officials for
a pay raise for fire Fighters. Chicago
legislators refused to grant Kelly
the salary increase, but to give at
least some compensation for the
long hours they gave the firemen
week-long furloughs. Today, on a
yearly average, fire fighters put in
about a 56-hour work week, 24
hours on, 24 hours off for 12 days
straight.
The medicaiqtM that dispatched
oar engine to the Welfare Office
had come during the Fire Depart
ment’s semiannual business in
spections. Joe, Mark, Glen and I
had just payed a visit to “King
Tut’s,’’ a Mediterranean grocery
store at 17th and O streets. Every
thing seemed up to snuff, Fire pre
vention-wise, and so we were on
our way to check out a couple of
local theaters.
Proprietors are not always
thrilled about these routine inspec
tions, which seems silly when you
consider that the recommenda
tions made often save their busi
nesses as well as their lives.
“It’s not our job to drive people
out of business," Millard told me.
“We simply look for hazards and
make recommendations. We al
ways give them ample time to fix
the situation."
As for Delbert, his ailment
seemed to be a little more than an
acute side ache, and so as the
Eastern Ambulance crew hurried
him off to $t. Elizabeth Hospital we
returned to the station.
Engine 2, Glen told me, was
among the 25 busiest rjgs in the
nation, averaging about seven calls
a day, Glen Kempf is a 26-year
veteran of the department, a regu
lar history book of fire fighting
tradition, whom Millard claims is
older than God.
The fireman tradition of wash
ing the engine’s tires, fo? instance,
began in the days of horse-drawn
rigs. Horse manure would be
picked up by the wheels, so in
order to keep it out of the station
house, firemen would wash them
off in the driveway.
At 3 p.m. we were back at the
station, where Mark Munger
punched up the afternoon reports
on the office computer, while the
rest of the crew chatted with me
about their jobs. They are family
men mostly, who make bad coffee
and good conversation. Many have
second jobs during their Kelly
Days, like Scott Thompson who
runs his own house-painting busi
ness. Others spend tneir free time
pursuing arr education. Munger is
finishing up on his degree in busi
ness administration wnile Millard
soon wm oe a licensed real estate
broker.
All of the men at Station 1 agree
that one of the nicest benefits of
the job is the Kelly Days, which
allow them to do other things.
It v/as about 5 p.m. and we wrere
all about to sit down and chomp on
some hamburgers when another
call came in on the station speak
ers. The City/County Building,
which channeled all emergency
calls and dispatched the appropri
ate engines, gave us the word. A
fire at 1915 Garfield St
This was the one I had been
waiting for, a nice juicy fire. Some
thing a big-time journalist could
sink his teeth into. Glen, Mark and
Joe darted to the end of the dark
corridor to the brass poles that
plopped them down right in front
of their rigs. '
I had been briefed earlier on the
propei techntaue for descending
me ?u-rooi poms so rwu old Hat
for me. Besides, the boys had no
time to wait around while I took
- the suirsand this was, after all, big
time journalism. So, with my trusty
pad and pen wedged between by
teeth like the bit in the mouth of a
Clydesdale,! slid with a precision
that would be the envy of even
Batman and Robin.
Within seconds of the call we
were roaring down 16th street’s
rush hour traffic, the “Stress Ex
press" among firemen. For anyone
.who has ever thought that a pass
ing fire engine is loud, I suggest
riding in one. The sirens are deaf
ening.
But automobiles these days,
with their sound proof doors and
Blaupunkt speakers, make it hard
for drivers to hear the sirens and so
they often fail to pull over.
"Out of the way civilians!’’ I
implored from the back of our rig.
“Can’t you see we’ve got a job to
do?T t
Joe looked a little worried about
my overzealousness. He was right,
I suppose. Perhaps that eighth cup
of coffee had made me a bit edgy.
When we arrived at the scene
(
Engine 8 and Truck 8, from the
overlapping 17th and Van Dorn
station, were already there and on
their way to the second-story
blaze. Chief King, from our station,
had cleared the way for us. The
chief plays a supervisory role in
these situations, directing the dis
persal of water and positioning the
men strategically. King was down
the pole and out of sight ahead of
us all. Amazing quickness for a
man who had played football for
Lincoln High school during the
days of the single-wing offense.
The fire itself was rather anti
climatic. It seemed some woman
had been a bit inattentive with her
Teflon skillet and, after discovering
that it was on fire, decided to throw
flour on it A bad idea, Chief King
told me, because of the flammable
properties of flour.
The problem had been extin
guished by the fire fighters of
Engine ana Truck 8 by the time we
enough to keep me wired all the
way back to the station house. The
mood between calk is incredibly
relaxed, but still there are always
things for the men to do.
"The days of sitting around be
tween calk is long gpne," Mark
Munger said. 'Today the public
expects a certain amount of per
formance for their (tax) dollar.”
As a result, what Munger calls
the fire fighter’s "realm of respon
sibility” really has grown over the
last decade, including various fire
prevention and CPR training pro
grams. Station 2 runs much like a
regular business between 7 a.m.
and 5 p.m., and there is no “sitting
around” between those hours.
The rest of the night was un
eventful, save for one medical call
shortly before the kickoff of Mon
day Night Football. Engine 1 was
dispatched to the Lincoln Plasma
Center at 126 N. 14th St, where an
unfortunate donor was haying a ,
peculiar reaction after hiving the
wrong blood type put back into his
veins. We’re talking lawsuit. I made
the mistake of identifying myself as
a reporter and quickly was es
corted to the lobby by a very snotty
nurse and one of LPD’s finest.
Back at the station the rest of the
men had begun their Monday
night ritual earing up their leftover
rations before they went on Kelly
Days. They had whipped up sev
eral snacks for the gaipe, ranging
from hot popcorn to hard-bouea
eggs to Saltines smeared with va
nUTa frosting.
As we smacked away during the
opening kickoff, a few of the men
had decided to turn in early. But as
Munger had told me “you never
really rest at.a fire station, you
always wake up tired. “
The fire fighters of Station 2
invited me to spend the night, but
I declined, feeling secure in the
knowledge that my neighborhood,
at least, was protected.
By 11:30 p.m. moot of the men
had gone to bed with only one ear
to the pillow, while the Bears had
easily covered a 3-point spread,
which made me happy for certain
financial reasons.
• Dennis Ktuk of Station 1 washes down the spilled oil and anti-freeae at 18th A Q sjrerts after a tw<v
• car accident
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