GOING TO A FIRE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 260, 24 December 1880, Page 4

GOING TO A FIRE.

One of the most exciting eights a stranger can witness in the lower part of New York is the Fire Department respooding to an alarm of Ore in the daytime. : A representative of the Fireman's Journal describee a scenfe familiar to all our citizens, but one that many of our readers have probably, never witnessed. We chanced, to be ■in broad way a day or two since (says ; the writer) when the street was crowded. I with vehicles of all kinds, and the aidewalks with a regular procession of ; pedestrians. Suddenly the gong of an I approaching steamer sounded with its sherp sudden, and continuous jingle ; thert was a rush of teams to clear the centre of the street, and a rush of policemen to aid the drivers in getting their vehicles against the curb j then came a fireman running for dear life, shouting, " Clear the road," and right behind him came the steamer, the horses on a gallop, and a cloud of smoke issuing from the smoke-stack a moment, and she was gone. Then came a hook°aod-ladder truck, with soundiDg;gODg, horses on the jump, and the members of the company clinging to their precarious perches on top. Next came the salvage-corps, gong sounding, horses running, and the men urging them as if their lives depended on their Bpeed. It was an exciting event, lasting but a moment, but quickening to the pulse of the - laziest- onlooker. Thousands of persons'" had stopped to catch a glimpse of the palesing firemen, and for over a mile Broadway was jammed with vehicles: and pedestrians, all of whom had turned out to make room for the firemen,, on whose speed might depend the property and lives of somo of our citizens. To a stranger, the sight must have been a thrilling one, and impressed him with the efficiency of our fire.''depart-' menr. We know that to onr. soldiers the heavy rumble of the apparatus seemed like the movement of artillery to the front, and to presage an impend* ing battle. And so it was a battle—a fight between the trained firemen j and an enemy as old as the earth or heavens, and one that has scourged mankind' since time was. , _