WPBFD History

After the failed interior attack, the Snorkel was posi- tioned in the west parking lot, but little could be accom- plished because only one small bathroom window was accessible. The fire was finally cooled by a 1 1/2 inch line from the ground level pool area. Normal pump pres- sures failed to reach the sixth floor, so Ernie Norman coiled the line around a metal post several times and the pressure was boosted to gain the needed height. This was not exactly according to the department's hose evolutions, but it put out the fire. The blaze was contained to the sixth floor apart- ment where it had started, with only heat and water dam- age to other parts of the building. The fire started in a television set that had just been turned on by Joseph Auf- fray, who had recently returned from France. The Auf- fray apartment, which contained expensive French Pro- vincial furniture, was a total loss. Chief Kennedy took Tassin's melted helmet after the fire and kept it on a shelf in his office to show visitors the hazards of firefighting. Ground breaking ceremonies for the new Central Fire Station were held on Monday, December 17, 1979. Mayor Helen Wilkes was one of the dignitaries digging the first shovels of dirt from the vacant lot at 4th Street and North Dixie Highway. Two other possible sites had been ruled out: Loftin and Dixie; and Fern and South Olive Avenue. The firm of Peacock and Lewis won the bid for designing the station at a cost of $60,000. In Au- gust of 1978 Chief Kennedy and the architects had visited Tampa's new headquarters station, so it is no wonder that West Palm Beach's station would bear a striking resem- blance to Tampa's. The construction bid had been awarded to Butler Construction Company in November at a cost of $1,374,500. The Palm Beach Times carried an article in the De- cember 18 issue under the header: "Fire station to have space for women." Chief Kennedy proclaimed that his new station was "built for the future," with "separate rest- rooms and dressing facilities for women firefighters." Kennedy let his personal feelings show by going on to add, "I've seen many situations where a female could not have gotten the job done." 1980 Construction of the new fire station was well under- way when a cornerstone ceremony was held on April 21, 1980. Chief Kennedy, as a member of the Masons, for- mally requested a Masonic cornerstone to be laid at the northeast corner of the building. He cited the historical relationship of the fire department and the Masons back to 1905 when the Harmonia Lodge led the parade to dedi- cate the first fire station in West Palm Beach. The corner- stone measured 18 by 24 inches:

were now entitled to a Kelly Day, or extra day off every six weeks which equated to a fifty-two hour workweek. West Palm Beach became one of the first departments in Palm Beach County to reduce hours below fifty-six. The new hours were effective on October 12. Early on the morning of December 26, 1978, Man- gonia Park requested mutual aid. The Palm Beach Jai-alai Fronton was ablaze and the small community just north of the West Palm city limits needed help. The reserve 1948 Maxim ladder was quickly manned and sent to assist. The fire had breached the roof even before the first engine had arrived, so it was mostly a case of using master streams to protect the annex buildings. Damage to the expansive building was estimated at $8,000,000. The fronton was not able to re-open for the last three weeks of the season, losing an estimated $3,000,000. The fire was the second to destroy a Florida jai-alai operation. The Daytona Beach fronton burned to the ground on April 11, 1974. In 1978 the West Palm Beach Fire Medics received the employee of the year award. The unit was given the award as a group at the annual Employee Service Awards Program. A third EMS unit had been added during the year. It responded from Central Station within a running card from Belvedere Road to 15th Street and was identi- fied as Fire Medic 1. Fire Medic 2 responded from #2 Station covering south of Belvedere Road. Fire Medic 3 responded from #3 Station to the area north of 15th Street. 1979 Union contract negotiations for 1979-80 included a request for around the clock civilian dispatchers. Fire- fighters were tired of manning the watch office and were willing to forgo a raise to see permanent dispatchers hired by the department. As a result, four people were hired to receive and dispatch emergencies at the Central Fire Sta- tion. Firefighters would still have to stand watches on Saturdays and when the new dispatchers called in sick. On the afternoon of October 12, 1979, units re- sponding to a fire at the Portofino South condominium observed heavy smoke as the trucks left the station on Southern Boulevard. On arrival flames were leaping from a sixth floor apartment on the south side of the twelve story building. The problem of evacuation was foremost in the minds of firefighters first on the scene. Company 2 assumed the task of advancing a hose line down the hall- way to the burning apartment. These men, led by Captain Joseph Marte, were forced back by the intense heat as they neared the door. Gary Tassin's face shield actually melted from the super-heated atmosphere in the black- ened hall. Other units were busy assisting occupants down the stairwells while exterior hose streams were di- rected toward the involved apartment.

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