WPBFD History

in the middle of the Outdoor Store. When I went back the next day to look for my helmet, we never did find any part of it." Despite Tuten's ad- ventures, the fire was under control in less than an hour. Damage to the building was extensive and the con- tents were a total loss. The owners, Stuart and Howard Elkins, reopened a few months later and the business still exists today. Tuten had to report to headquarters to get

to be electrical in na- ture. Fire department spokesmen appeared on television for the first time on August 10, 1960. The depart- ment certainly was in the limelight after the recent Baker’s Shoe Store fire and Chief Witherspoon took the opportunity to promote fire safety on WEAT- TV. Witherspoon spoke of the recent fire as “the big one and a tough one to put out." Only one week after Baker Shoe Store the department had

Outdoor Store on South Dixie Highway August 10, 1960.

another helmet from Bill Lingenfelter who was in charge of issuing equipment. "[Lingenfelter] didn't want to give me another helmet, so Chief Witherspoon, whose office was next door overheard the conversation and he came in and says 'Bill, get that boy a helmet.' and it was 'yes, sir!' Had it not been for the chief I'd of had to bought the hel- met, ‘course back then it was about half a week's pay, you know." On September 10, 1960, a

another serious fire. At 9:35 p.m. on August 10, an alarm sounded for a fire at the Outdoor Store on the corner of El Vedado and South Dixie Highway. Company 2 was first in with 1-B arriving minutes later. Both companies laid pump lines to fight the fire. Captain Maynard and Royal B. Tuten took one of the pump lines to the rear of the building. Tuten related

what happened next, "Maynard turned me loose with the 2 1/2 inch hose and I backed-up against the wading pool they had full of water. It was just high enough to catch me right behind the knees, and I fell over backwards into the pool. ‘Course I got full gear on, and I can't get out of the pool. I'm holding my head above water with my arms down behind me - I don't want to come to a fire and drown here in two feet of water. Lt. Maynard pulled me out." After being rescued, Tuten returned to attack the fire. Alone on the nozzle he tried to use his helmet to break glass out of a door panel while holding the 2 1/2 inch line under his other arm. He recounted what hap- pened next. “The fire stream caught my helmet and the last I saw it was gaining altitude out

small fire in a sixth floor office of the Citizen's Building was fanned by fringe winds from hurricane Donna. Two pumper companies and a ladder com- pany out of Central Station were at the scene. Gaining access to the building proved difficult because it had been boarded-up for the approaching hurricane. Three offices suffered severe damage as the wind spread the fire rapidly. Bennett T. Kennedy remem- bered a rescue from one of the upper floors. "We found some guy wandering around up there . . . suffocating. I gave him my air pack." As the man was being taken downstairs in a smoky freight elevator, Kennedy got on the floor to breathe fresh air through a small hole. Deputy Chief James M. Sloan,

Lt. Roy P. Hendrickson at the Outdoor Store.

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