WPBFD History

button. He would then move his stomach in and out as the whistling theme from the Bridge Over the River Kwai played. It was hilarious. Too bad U-Tube was not yet in- vented. 1971 Retired Fire Chief Alfred P. Sadler died at his home on January 5, 1971, at the age of 82. Chief James M. Sloan, Jr., notified the department by publishing a bulle- tin. Sadler had led the fire department from 1913 to 1949. The Royal Palm Ice Company, located at 504-4th Street, had required response by the fire department nu- merous times over the years. The emergencies had been of a minor nature, but ammonia leaking from the cooling pipes on several of the calls had caused considerable irri- tation to the respiratory tracts of the firefighters. One of these more or less routine calls occurred on February 10, 1971, when an electric motor shorted out starting a small fire. At 4:02 am on March 29th, units again responded to the ice house. This response would be more than routine. Heavy smoke was found on the second floor, but the seat of the fire could not be immediately located. Firemen breached the roof, finally discovering an intense fire in- side the wall partitions. Acrid smoke was also found on the first floor seeping from the closed doors of the ice room. Inside the room, large quantities of bags, insulat- ing cork, and 1" by 8" wood sheathing was burning. Large volumes of water were needed over a long period of time to quiet the fire. Another fire death attributed to careless smoking oc- curred on March 29, 1971. The body of Ann Bacon was found after firefighters extinguished an early morning fire at 637 Fern Street. The first full-time dispatcher began answering the telephones on June 28, 1971. Chief Sloan published a bul- letin announcing the 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 40-hour posi- tion on June 14. All permanent firefighters were eligible to apply for the three month long assignment that offered a one-step raise in pay. Units were dispatched to the R.E.A. building at 1:31 a.m. on Wednesday, July 28, 1971. The wood frame building, located at 601 North Railroad Avenue, was used as a loading dock and freight warehouse. On arrival, fire- fighters found the structure fully involved. Pump lines were put into service and advanced up to the building, but the hose streams only made the fire more intense. Fire conditions worsened rapidly with the heavy fire load, un- til the roof suddenly collapsed without warning. Three firefighters attempting to enter the building were injured as the roof and walls crashed down in a shower of flames. Clyde H. Terry was struck on the head and received a cer- vical injury. Deputy Chief Bennett T. Kennedy suffered a

biles, 5 station generators, 8 portable generators, and 4 air compressors. Various station improvements, hose repair, and carnival inspections were also handled by this divi- sion. In November the Florida Legislature passed the Fire Fighters Collective Bargaining Act. This bill would re- quire the city to negotiate a contract with Local 727, the West Palm Beach Firefighter's Union. The City of West Palm Beach abolished its Civil Defense office in 1970 and the fire chief was given the added responsibility of disaster preparedness coordinator. With civil disorder spreading across the country, Chief Sloan went to work to train the department in handling such contingencies. He recorded a two hour audio tape that detailed his plan. The tape was taken to all the fire stations by the training division and played for the fire- fighters. The only trouble was that Sloan's slow drawl put everyone to sleep in a matter of minutes, including the training officers. The fire department purchased diving gear for under- water rescue in 1970. Seventeen firefighters received SCUBA training at Howard Park Pool, but the program was inadequately planned and poorly equipped. There were only one or two occasions over the next five years when divers were used for body recovery, and that had not been the intent of the special training. Interest and volunteers for underwater rescue eventually faded into the depths. Firefighters are summoned to emergencies at all hours of the day and night. It had long been the policy of the department to allow men to rest in their beds during the day when there was nothing else to do. That came to an abrupt end one afternoon at Central Station when the city painters were sprucing-up the dormitory. Richard Konrady, who had the nickname "Stupo," was lying down as the workers lazily painted a wall. Konrady, the con- summate department jokester, suddenly rolled his 260 pounds over and hollered for the painters "to keep down the noise so I can get some sleep." Word of the incident reached Chief Sloan and sleeping during the day was banned forever plus one year. Konrady had a great appetite …. for just about any- thing. He had “stunk-up” the entire fire house boiling beef kidneys and grossed out his crew by cooking nasty catfish roe. He entertained new recruits by eating whole chicken necks. He’d pop one in his huge jowls, work it around for 30 seconds and then spit our the bones which were com- pletely cleaned of meat. Konrady also had a great belly. His white dress shirt, never tucked in at the front, always had a black mark across the stomach from the fire truck’s steering wheel. He also performed an act which entailed donning a large top hat that covered his head and shoulders. He painted eyes and a nose on his bare chest and lips around his belly

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