WPBFD History

an activated sprinkler head. "That system saved a lot of lives," according to Linda Schenker, fire department spokeswoman. "We could have had a disaster." Some 200 occupants of the building were safely evacuated. Delbert Rowe, who had been at the center for four years, received burns to 60 percent of his body. He was treated by paramedics at the scene and then transported to St. Mary's Hospital in critical condition. Rowe died from the injuries early the next morning. Three nursing home employees, who suffered smoke inhalation while evacuat- ing patients were treated at Humana Hospital and later released. Several literary talents surfaced in the EMS Divi- sion in 1991. The first was Patrick Kendrick who wrote a review of the movie Backdraft for The Palm Beach Post on May 24. Kendrick had been trying for years to get a true crime manuscript published that chronicled the ex- ploits of a "killer cop" in nearby Stuart. Kendrick would later have several articles published in local newspapers relating his firefighting experiences. On August 18 The Palm Beach Post printed an article entitled "A Lie, A Life and a Memory" that was written by Brent Braunworth. It recounted a rescue call that had haunted Braunworth for many years. Both articles helped to explain the fire- fighting profession to the general public. Students at Forest Hill High School were busy with an American history exam when sparking electrical wires set fire to the ceiling of their portable classroom on June 11, 1991. The ten students quickly evacuated the building leaving their test papers to hopefully be consumed, but firefighters quickly smothered the fire saving the structure and the uncompleted test papers. A piece of fire department history was recovered in 1991. Truck 12, a 1931 Ford Model A fire truck with a 224 gallon wa- ter tank, was located in sub- urban West

limits with Palm Beach County Fire/Rescue providing emergency coverage for the facility at that time. Annexa- tions brought the huge complex under the fire protection of West Palm Beach in 1988. There were numerous inci- dents at the plant prior to the March 1991 fire when smaller fires had been extinguished with minimal dam- age. An explosion took the life of one employee on Octo- ber 9, 1989. In March of 1991 tryouts were held for a new pro- gram that would train paramedics to work with police agencies in SWAT operations. David Nelson and Brent Braunworth were the only two of seven paramedics to pass the strenuous testing which included a comprehen- sive background check, physical tests, and psychological screening. The concept of the new program was to pro- vide advanced life support on the front line of hazardous police operations. The SWAT-Medics had to success- fully complete the 98 hour reserve police academy course at Palm Beach Community College. They were trained to carry and use weapons for their own protection when nec- essary. Budgetary limitations have been with the fire depart- ment throughout its history. In 1991 this age-old problem surfaced again when the overtime budget was nearly de- pleted with two months still left in the fiscal year. The shortage resulted from excessive demands on the over- time account due to vacations, sickness, and long term disabilities. Chief Rehr had to take the unpopular step of reducing the minimum personnel level on shift each day. The ladder company was to respond with a single person on the apparatus instead of the normally low complement of two. Chief Rehr said, "We're living with it. I don't like doing it . . . we're down to what's adequate." Automatic sprinkler systems again proved their

value on May 17, 1991. An 89-year-old man acciden- tally set fire to his bedclothes at the King David Center, a 190 bed nurs- ing home lo- cated at 1101- 54th Street. Firefighters responded at 6:30 a.m. and quickly doused the fire that had been con- tained to the one room by

Palm Beach. It had been used by the depart- ment from 1931 to 1953 before being sold to Cloud Lake. In 1958 Southwest Vol- unteer Fire De- partment pur- chased the truck and then Lawrence Feeney, a Southwest vol-

Solid Waste Authority Fire L to R: Glenn Hetchler, Chris Brown, Mike Ranieri, Larry Grasso, David Baxter, Dave Nelson, Jeff Kachman.

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