This week’s Station Life photos
are all about the fire pole at Station 1.
Fire Station 1 is the only
station in the City of Brentwood to have a “fire pole”. The history of fire
poles dates back to the days when fire apparatus were pulled by horses. The horses
were well trained members of the department who were known to move into
position to be harnessed when they heard the fire bells ring. Unfortunately,
the horses tended to feel a little too much like members of the crew and would
try to follow the firefighters to their living quarters on the second floor by
climbing the stairs after a call! Initially this problem was solved by
installing circular stairs, but while these kept the horses in the bay they
also slowed the firefighter’s responses. Some fire stations installed chutes or
slides to allow the firefighters to get downstairs quickly, but the fire pole
eventually won out as the favored method.
The fire pole at Station 1 has a
gate around it to help keep visiting children or weary firefighters from taking
an unplanned detour back to the ground floor. Our pole is also equipped with
flaps that open and close automatically when a firefighter’s weight is added.
These flaps help keep the living quarters separate from the apparatus bay
without sacrificing any speed when responding.
“Sliding the pole” is a learned
skill and can be dangerous if not done properly. Firefighters use their feet and legs to
control their speed while descending the pole and their hands are merely guides.
A rubber mat at the
bottom helps cushion the impact if an over exuberant rookie tries to beat
everyone to the truck.
The days of horses in the station
are long gone, and the tradition of including a fire pole in the station is
slowly fading away as well. More and more fire stations are being built as
single story buildings, so the need to quickly change levels is disappearing.
Fortunately, the tradition of fire poles lives on at Brentwood Fire Station 1.
