NEAFC 32nd Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEw ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS
are not used often enough in the tenement districts. Some of the cities are still
following around with two-and-a-half-inch lines, dragging them up through
stairways, ’ "
Train your men. Train your replacements, for the additions to the Fire
Department, and for the shortest working week possible.
MOD~.RATOI~ WOOLL~¥: I think that that is an important question to
consider. I think it is something that especially the municipal Chiefs must
¯ consider, and we have a lot of them in this Ball Room. We have a number
of other Chiefs, though, who have a very heavy responsibility, and they may
have some thoughts, as Joe did. ~
Now, I don’t want to put him on the spot too much, but Chief Marshall,
have you a thought on this matter?
CHIrF MARSttAV.L: I had to be out a few minutes and I might be going
over something that has already been said, but the situation as to shorter
hours, I believe nobody can dispute the fact that shorter hours., attract better
men, and it is going to be a better deal all around, particularly as to morale in
the Department, and if you are working long hours, and the cities around
you are working shorter hours, naturally, the men won’t particularly like that,
and they will keep on asking and working for shorter hours, which is disturbing
to your Department.
As to the fact that the shorter hours, affect t~e efficiency of a Department,
there is no question about it; it is a matter of economics, and if they don’t give
you the men to replace the man-power,- or take up the ~ man hours you have
lost, you are going to operate inefficiently.
If you lose all of these man hours, you have got to have the man-power,
and you cannot operate, with a .couple of men, particularly, we cannot, in
our cities.
If that is the situation, then probably the next best thing to do is to make
a survey to see if you can’t do away with some companies, and have more
men operating on the basic unit, the company itself.
I think that you would have less headaches for the Board of Underwriters,
with more men on each unit, rather than having a picture of many pieces running
with a couple of men on each piece.
MO~)~ATO~ Woo~.r¥: Thank you very much, Chief Marshall, and
especially for your emphasis on re-surveying your own situation, and attempting
to .try to adjust conditions, or, adjust yourself to conditions, as they
are. It doesn’t matter what the hours are; you have got to re-adjust, today.
It is a step in the matter of progress, or in the advancement of this nation, and
we cannot ignore the fact that that is the way it is going, and the smart Chief
is going to adjust things accordingly.
Chief Thomas, do you want to say a word on that? I should like to get
several of the larger municipal Chiefs, because the man-power situation is even
more serious with them.
CHIEF THOMAS: I am delighted to get into this subject, because there is so
much unanimity of opinion. We are all agreed that shorter hours are desirable,
and it is the trend, and it certainly must go into go.vernmental service, too.
I agree with everything that has been said. I would take up where Chief
-Marshall and Chief Flynn left off, and I agree that this training program, in
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