WPBFD History

Another old landmark was hit by the Downtown/Upton arsonist on May 10, 1989. Roxy's Bar, on the northwest corner of Okeechobee Boulevard and South Dixie Highway, had been recently closed due to the redevelopment project. The two story building was scheduled to be torn down, but the fire bug wanted to speed the process. Fire units arrived about 9 p.m. as smoke billowed from the second floor, a westerly wind pushing the dense cloud across Lake Worth into Palm Beach. The de- partment had become extremely proficient at defensive tactics during the last year, so master streams were soon pumping thousands of gallons per minute into the inferno. In two hours the blaze was under control. The building was declared a haz- ard by fire officials and torn down a few days after the fire. The third annual Antique Fire Truck Muster was held June 10, 1989, at Okeeheelee Park in suburban West Palm Beach. The event, sponsored by the Florida Antique Bucket Brigade, drew firefighters and apparatus from Miami to Merritt Island and West Palm Beach took part in the old fashion muster for the first time. Their performance in events such as the bar- rel roll, bucket brigade, and drafting race was somewhat lack- ing, but firefighters managed to bring home the biggest trophy by winning the Sportsmanship Award. T-42, the 1948 Maxim ladder truck, was shown amid other antiques dating back to 1914 and was actually used in one of the competitions June 19, 1989, a new law went into effect in the state of Florida when Governor Bob Martinez signed a bill that prohib- ited fire departments from hiring anyone who admitted to smoking or using tobacco products within a year of their appli- cation of employment. Firefighters who were on the job at the time were not affected. The law was helped through the Florida legislature by firefighters' associations who saw it as an oppor- tunity to get health protection legislation passed in the future. The night of July 4-5, 1989, was one of the busiest on record for city firefighters. The Uptown/Downtown arsonists were evidently celebrating in their own unique way and fire units were chasing hot-spots most of the night. The most seri- ous fire broke out at 12:01 a.m. in the vacant College of the Palm Beaches located at 660 Fern Street. This was the third fire set in that particular building since April and once again master streams deluged the structure. Three individuals were later arrested, charged, and convicted of setting the fires. The department saw a drastic turnaround in the way fire- fighters treated their bodies. By 1989 there were only a few smokers while only ten years before more than half the depart- ment had smoked. The number of tobacco chewers had also decreased. The men and women were now a lot more knowl- edgeable about their diets, which sometimes caused friction on the eating crews. The old holdouts wanted fried chicken, pota- toes, and gravy while the health conscious wanted salad, broiled fish, and green vegetables. Despite Chief Reese's negative view of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (C.I.S.D.), the pressure put on him by others forced his hand. The first two West Palm Beach Fire Depart- ment members went through specialized training to become certified in the process. Cletus Pirtle and William Serey were now able to handle debriefings after critical incidents to reduce the stress of firefighters exposed to serious injuries or deaths in the course of performing their duties. Rescuers had been known to suffer from headaches, gastrointestinal problems, anxiety, depression, irritability, and many other related symp-

toms brought about by stress. According to the American Medical Association firefighters were the most stressed workers in the United States and at least now the department could put their own C.I.S.D. team in action at any time to minimize these conditions. Another new innovation involved training dispatchers in the Emergency Medical Dispatch System (E.M.S.D.). By using standardized question cards a dispatcher could give instructions to the caller for assisting a patient prior to the arrival of emer- gency units. Safety instructions could also be given to protect those on the scene. Gloria Steinbauer, Communications Train- ing Coordinator, explained, "The system does not cause any delay in response time. It does provide maximum assistance to the person placing the call and to the person in need of medical care." Shortly after the system became operational, dispatchers assisted callers in several childbirths and other critical medical situations. The department had long needed someone to handle pub- lic relations and coordinate fire education efforts. The Fire Prevention Bureau had handled such matters in the past, but the division was now swamped with routine fire inspections, arson investigations, and new construction plans review. The 1988-89 budget provided for such a position, but Chief Reese seemed to be in no rush to fill the new slot. After more than a year delay Linda Schenker was hired to fill the position of public educa- tion/public information officer on December 4, 1989. Her ef- forts over the next few years would literally bring the depart- ment out of the dark ages when it came to dealing with the me- dia and spreading the word of fire safety throughout the com- munity. Linda became a common sight at working fires as re- porters gathered around her to get their story. At long last the West Palm Beach Fire Department was getting the coverage it had long deserved. Schenker would institute many new programs over the next few years. Fire companies took an active part in her public school program as children marveled at the big red fire engines. Arranging for in-service fire units to be available at these func- tions was somewhat of a logistical problem, and in some cases the units would have to interrupt the program to respond to an emergency. The presentations consisted of a puppet show, a review of lessons learned from the puppets, a bunker gear dem- onstration, and fire engine display. The important thing was that kids were being taught fire safety in addition to their other studies. In October of 1991 alone, Schenker would conduct thirty-five fire safety education programs for more than 1,400 pre-school and elementary school children. Schenker was also responsible for publishing the West Palm Beach Fire Department News, a quarterly newsletter in- strumental in spreading word about activities within the fire department to the general public and other city departments. The first issue was printed in February 1990. This centennial history would certainly be more complete if such a project had been in place years before. During the 1980s the West Palm Beach firefighters adopted The Children's Place as a special local charity that could use their help. One of the largest undertakings was to repair the old house on Ponce de Leon Avenue. Firefighters made cabinets, refinished the interior, and painted walls to pro- vide an adequate place for the homeless children. During the Christmas holidays of 1989, Santa arrived at The Children's 7