Looking at 50 years of firefighting in Butler
While equipment used by the Butler Fire Department has vastly improved during the past 50 years, the occasional word of gratitude city firefighters receive from people they saved is still the best part of the job.
“Some people thank you. It makes it feel like it's worth it,” said Capt. Kevin McAfee.
“I always thought it was part of the pay,” said retired Capt. Charlie McDonald, whose 23 years of service began in 1969.
Tanks to trucksRetired Capt. Gary Archer said tanks containing breathable air that firefighters carry on their backs now gradually went into use beginning in 1971 or 1972, a few years after Archer started in 1968.Before then, he said, firefighters had to blow into rubber bags strapped to their chests and the air would flow into canisters, which were also strapped on, and the canisters would convert the exhaled breath into breathable air.The devices were difficult to use under the stress and exertion of battling a fire leading many to simply hold their breath and rush in.“We went in without masks,” Archer said.Fire hoses of the day were effective at dousing flames, but were much harder to use and maintain than they are today.The old hoses had cotton exterior jackets that froze when they got wet at fires in the winter.Barry Fowler, another retired captain who started in 1969, recalled fighting a fire near the Butler County Prison on a New Year's Eve when the hoses froze.“We had to bring them back to the station to thaw them out,” he said.The cotton jackets rotted unless they were properly dried after each use. Drying required hooking the hoses on pegs in the hose towers at the station and hoisting them to the top using a pulley to allow them to hang until dry, the men said.The heavy brass couplings used to connect hoses to each other and to fire hydrants had to be handled carefully.“God forbid you ever dropped a coupling,” Fowler said, “It would dent very easily. Next time you had a fire you couldn't put them together.”The department had a machine that would remake the threads in damaged couplings, he said.Modern rubberized hoses with alloy couplings eliminate those problems.Today's trucks that carry firefighters in heated cabs weren't around in the late '60s.“Every truck we had was a convertible,” said retired Capt. Dave Krainbucher“It was open. If if rained, you got soaked. If it snowed, you froze your (butt) off,” Archer said.
Outriggers that stabilized the ladder truck had to be manually deployed unlike the hydraulic system that extends them on modern trucks, said McAfee, a 34-year department veteran.Like the department's current ladder truck, which is out of service due to a mechanical problem, the old ladder truck had issues.Its original 75-foot ladder was replaced with a much heavier 100-foot ladder during a refurbishment. The added weight made the truck too heavy for its six-cylinder engine to go uphill, the men said.<b>On-the-job training</b>Most training was done on the job with experienced firefighters teaching the less experienced.But the firefighters recalled receiving good training from John Lahey, a captain with the Pittsburgh Fire Department who went on to become chief.“He was a good guy. He taught us a lot,” Krainbucher said.Training in first aid is what the men relied on when responding to medical emergencies.“There were no rubber gloves. If someone was bleeding you held it in your hand,” Archer said.When a patient needed oxygen, one firefighter carried a tank of oxygen and another carried a suitcase equipped with gauges. The tank had to be connected to the case to administer oxygen, the men said.<b>Communication key</b>The dispatch system in the early days was crude.Calls would come over the phone and were answered by a firefighter stationed in the “bull pen.”He had to write down the address and get it right because there were no cell phones that current firefighters can use to check it, McAfee said.The person reporting a fire was connected directly to the fire department.“A lot of time you had to deal with a panicked person. You could get a person hysterical on the phone,” McAfee said.“We were the 911 center. We had to dispatch departments,” Fowler said.People reporting fires had to dial 110 to reach the station.Once a caller reported a fire at the Keystone Pipe and Supply Co., but said it was on Pillow Street — not Cunningham Street where it was actually located.As a result firefighters from the old South Side Station went to Pillow Street. The central station went to the correct location.“The person on the phone got confused,” said Larry Dorenkamp, another retired captain.Radios were used when the department arrived at emergency scenes, but the radios frequently pick up chatter from other areas and other states, McDonald said.The firefighters remembered responding to many severe fires — like the fires that destroyed the Oesterling Feed Store, Busy Beaver and Franklin Glass and the third floor of the Knights of Columbus building — but also going out on calls for cats stuck in trees, which caused some firefighters to bristle.Archer said one fireman ascended a tree, grabbed a cat by the tail and let it free fall to the ground.Fowler recalls a captain telling him: “'Did you ever see a cat skeleton in a tree? It will come down.'”
<b>A dangerous job</b>Humor helps firefighters cope with job stress and tragedies they encounter, McAfee said.“You help a lot of people and you see a lot of tragedy so you have to have a sense of humor to deal with it,” he said.Among the tragedies have been the deaths of two city firefighters who fell in the line of duty.In 1987, Charlie Deal, a husband and father of three, was crushed by a chimney that collapsed during a fire that was ruled arson, McAfee said.Two other firefighters were trapped, but were rescued, he said. The arsonist died a few days later from burns he suffered setting the fire, he said.The building was located on what is now a vacant lot at the corner of Birch and Chestnut streets.“That building's not there anymore, but that's what I think of every time I pass it,” McAfee said.Firefighter Jim Geyer died after suffering a heart attack during a fire in 1968.Tight bonds among firefighters also help.The department used to have social outings like firefighterss' balls. Firefighters put on their dress uniforms and brought their wives to the annual events.Many firefighters had second jobs or knew trades and would share those skills when fellow firefighters needed work done on their houses.Krainbucher said half of the basement floor in his house used to be dirt until a bunch of his coworkers came over and helped him pour cement.McDonald said he used to respond to fires after he retired. He recalled a police officer's reaction during one post-retirement response.“A cop said, 'I thought you retired. I said yeah, I retired, I just didn't quit,” McDonald said.
