WPBFD History

The setting was surreal as firefighters went about their business amid the devastation. Fire broke out in Southboro School on Ogston Street on the night of December 30, 1988. Units were dispatched at 10:07 p.m., but the fire was well under way. Efforts were also hampered by long supply lines that required pumpers to be placed at the hydrants to provide adequate water supply. After the roof col- lapsed the aerial was used to douse the flames from above. The 1921 building was entirely gutted before extinguishment was completed. Fire Marshall Jerry Catoe ruled the mil- lion dollar fire arson after finding evidence of a flammable liquid in the area of origin. The Southboro arsonist was apprehended on January 11, 1989. An eleven-year-old student had set fire to his school so he could go to the school that his girlfriend at- tended. Two accomplices were also charged - boys aged twelve and seven. Investigators had talked with students and began narrowing down a list of suspects who had been on the property the night of the fire. The three younger boys finally ad- mitted to pouring fuel in a classroom and lighting it. "The motive was love," said Catoe. The city committed itself to a dynamic new project in 1988 that

stages was taking aerial photographs of the entire city. The fire department assisted in painting marks on road- ways to identify various utilities such as water mains and hydrants from the aerial photographs. Details from these photos would be entered into computers by “computer-aided de- sign” drafting. Updates would be added at the time of completion, such as a new hydrant installed by the wa- ter department would be entered and that information would be immedi- ately available to all departments. The completed system would pro- vide street maps, water mains, hy- drant locations, property owners, and specific building information. Some similar systems were so advanced that this type of information could be ac- cessed by computers in apparatus and provide actual photographs of high risk target hazards while en-route to the emergency. Firefighters appeared in two televi- sion episodes of B. L. Stryker with Burt Reynolds. The first episode was filmed in Jupiter where an expensive townhouse went up in flames Holly- wood style. There was no actual fire, but burners strategically placed on the roof and smoke machines made it look good. Two West Palm Beach Fire Department engines and fifteen firefighters worked for three hours to film a scene that lasted less than a minute on television. Driver/Engineer

Captain Skip Milkins and Asst. Chief Ronald Johnson discuss the next move as flames shoot skyward at Southboro School.

promised to have a profound effect on the fire department. The Geographic Information System (GIS) would computerize geo-

Richard Beans had the nerve to approach Lonnie Anderson and ask for an autograph. She took his pen and signed her name on

graphical information in a huge data base for up- to-the-minute accuracy and instant access. The system would eventually contain everything that anyone would want to know about the city from below ground to the top of the highest building. Underground utilities, above ground utilities, streets, alleys, sidewalks, individual buildings, flood plains, and anything else you could imagine would be entered into the com- puter program in the form of layered maps. One of the first

the sleeve of his bunker coat. He swore that he would never clean it again. Walter Barndt made a video as the scene was acted out three or four times. Another episode was filmed at the "Darth Va- der" building in West Palm Beach. The new ladder, an engine, and a rescue unit stood by as a hostage rescue was tak- ing place in the building. Fifteen firefighters took part in the all night film- ing. There were a number of midnight special de- tails to wet down the

Elaborate fire scene from B. L. Stryker television series. 4