WPBFD History

members of the volunteer company would "come a- running." The men pulled the hand carts unless a passing horse-pulled dray could be commandeered to assist. Wheel-high coils of hose were uncoiled along the narrow white shell rock streets. Water to quench the flames was taken from the lake before a system of mains was con- structed. The hand operated pump needed four men on each side to pump water to the fire. The Alerts had hel- mets and coats that were worn "sometimes." Another account remembered "when the alarm sounded, the first two Alerts at the fire house would take the head of the tongue and begin hauling the hand pump toward the fire. Other volunteers fitted their shoulders to the harness along the way to speed the human-propelled machine." By the time these "push-pullers" reached the fire they were often too tired to do anything else but col- lapse under the shade of a tree. Other volunteers arriving at the fire on foot or by bicycle took over until the ex- hausted men revived. The November 11, 1897, issue of The Tropical Sun carried an article about repairs that were being made on the local fire department building. Keeping the facilities presentable was an on-going problem with the limited funds available at the time.

yan Street to First Street in hopes of reforming it. Within a short time pundits had dubbed the street "Thirst Street." Prohibition calmed the rowdiness in 1918. In the late 1980s city officials thought it was safe to rename the thor- oughfare Banyan Street. The nation saw two dramatic new developments in 1896 that would change the world. The first moving pic- tures on a public screen were shown in New York City on April 23, and Henry Ford completed his first automobile in Detroit, Michigan on June 4. 1897 After only one year as Fire Chief, Mr. Strumpe evi- dently had enough. On January 7, 1897, the town council received a letter from J. Elliott, President of the Alerts, stating, "Gentlemen, At a meeting of the Flagler Alerts on 16th Dec. 1896, it was resolved on motion that J. C. Lau- ther be recommended to your honorable board for posi- tion of Chief of the Fire Department." At the next council meeting on January 9, J. C. Lauther was approved as the second fire chief of the Alerts. Carl Kettler, one of the early members of the Flagler Alerts, recalled the days when the bell would sound and

Jacksonville conflagration 1901.

4