WPBFD History

men canvassed residen- tial areas throughout the entire city. A large scale tragedy was averted by two po- lice officers at midnight on Saturday, August 29, 1959. During routine pa- trol, Officers Ed Hum- phrey and Richard Codomo found a fire roaring in the Norton Arms Apartment Hotel at 620 South Dixie High- way. Rushing into the three story building, they evacuated occupants as the fire department was responding. Codomo raced down the hallway

was moved for any rea- son, the records had to be updated. Hose had to be dried before it could be repacked, so after every fire the used hose was taken back to the station and rolled out on the lawn. New hose was loaded on the truck from the racks. Sometimes replacement hose had to be brought from another station. The company officer was responsible for completing a Fire Hose Record of Transfer (FD- 16) and the assistant chief had to pick up the

Central Station Watch Office in 1959. The Gray Audograph machine (bottom left) used for recording calls on vinyl plastic discs.

of the top floor with fire all around him. Roof timbers began to fall as he left the building satisfied that no one else was inside. Captain J. B. Calvitt of Company 1-A was the first arriving officer at 11:55 p.m. He reported the roof "nearly completely involved." He gave a Code 3 and re- quested all available units. Chief Witherspoon arrived a few minutes later and requested mutual aid from Palm

hose transfer sheet before going off duty in the morning. The Central Station company officer would then pull each hose card and enter the changes for each piece of hose that had been moved. Errors were common as the hard to see numbers were often read in the yard at 3:00 a.m. Sometimes a layer or two of hose had to be pulled off a truck to check for a wrong number after the officer at Central pulled the hose card and found that piece of hose

Beach. Palm Beach sent an ae- rial to the scene and an engine to cover West Palm Beach from Central Station. The chief also asked for recall of an entire off- duty platoon for additional man- power. Eleven 2 ½ inch pump lines and two 1 ½ inch leader lines were pressed into service. One pump line was removed from the roof when it threatened to collapse. The Palm Beach Times described the hose lines as “giant, basking, intertwined serpents, mute but potent.” At one point police officers fired their handguns at upper story windows. Some of the hose streams didn't have enough pressure to break the glass, so the police lent a hand. Robert Milkins and several other fire- men perched on an adjacent roof scrambled for cover as they were perilously close to the line of fire.

was actually on another truck. The extra work was maddening at times. 1959 Chief Witherspoon started a new program in April of 1959. Home Survey was aimed at reducing fire hazards in residential structures where the highest number of fires oc- curred. Company personnel walked from door to door offer- ing free inspections for fire hazards and handing out fire safety literature. This became an annual event for the next twenty years. Success of the program was never measured, and the firemen never liked it. Often the men would sneak-up to the front door and carefully leave the handouts in hopes of not being detected by the occu- pant. In three to four weeks the

Norton Arms Apartment Hotel with ladder pipe and pump line in operation.

10