
DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9710310280

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  156 lines

IN THE LINE OF FIRE BLAZING THROUGH THE CITY'S HISTORY OF FIREFIGHTING

A MID-WINTER'S night in 1917. ``Clang! Clang! sounds the gong upon the wall. 'Tis the signal that his services are needed.

``Out of bed he jumps, downstairs and out into the chilling air he goes, down the street as fast as the fleetest horses can carry him to the scene of the fire.''

So reads the introduction to the Fireman's Red Book published here when this century was young.

The Portsmouth Fire Department was then a collection of volunteer companies having a storied history begun long before the armies and navies of the North and South sorted a few thing out.

Which is a good thing.

Even in peacetime, Portsmouth has been occasionally flammable.

This historic city has been ravaged by fires in its downtown, shipyard, schools, private residences and centers of worship.

And the Portsmouth Fire Department, in many guises, has fought them.

Four generations of Alexanders have lived through the evolution. Capt. James W. Alexander Jr., is the latest. He, Lt. Clark E. Ryder, Lt. Homer M. Gilbert III - better known in these parts as ``Monty'' - and retired firefighter Thomas L. Laeser are assembling a history of the department in photos and, when they can find them, words.

Two days before this year's department awards banquet, Alexander, Ryder and Monty gathered at Station No. 9, where they sifted through photos, old rule books and newspaper clippings.

It is a lot of sorting, some interpretation and infrequent yet welcomed encounters with Lady Luck.

``There are so many families here with a relative who was in the fire department,'' Alexander said. ``And they may have a photo of an uncle somebody. With the new computers, you can scan that bird and hand it back and - hey, thanks a lot. Or maybe they tell us a little bit about it.''

The history wants to answer a question - one which Alexander jokingly asked Ryder on Tuesday.

``How did this place get started?''

``This place?'' Ryder responded.

``This fire station.''

Even the British demanded a fire guard during Portsmouth's Colonial period. It was not until the years following the War of 1812 that organized companies of men, many of them having returned from war, banded together.

Many came together after the Great Conflagration of 1821, during which virtually all of the city was destroyed. They believed Portsmouth needed an organized system of fighting fires around the port and the city.

According to the Aug. 21, 1902 edition of The Portsmouth Star, the first fire company of record was the Resolution. The company owned a steamer, the Vigilant, run by a ``hand engine of colored men,'' though it would be more than 100 years before the department integrated.

In 1853, the company evolved into the Independent Fire Co., one of the most storied and long-lasting of the old companies. With 35 men, The Star reported, ``it withstood the epidemic of 1955 and the conflict of 1961-64.''

They also had one of the finest engine and hose carts in the commonwealth. It was nickel-plated - a $4,500 value.

These days, a ladder truck can run upwards of $500,000.

``They're not giving them away,'' Alexander noted.

Companies fostered friendly rivalries, and were rough and tumble outfits where the master-at-arms was tasked with tossing drunks from the building.

There were other notable job requirements. In the rule book of the Chambers Company, for example, the driver was tasked with caring for and feeding the horses.

Then, explained Alexander, companies ``were like associations, and you followed the rules of the association.''

Chambers was one of many companies hit hard by the Civil War. It's membership roles depleted, it disbanded until a year after the war ended.

Shortly before the war, the city had officially formed a Portsmouth Fire Department, then a confederation of companies and occasionally paid firemen. In 1885, the Virginia Firemen's Association was formed in this city.

Companies often worked together and with the fire departments of Norfolk and the shipyard, perhaps most notably during the 1895 conflagration which raged for five hours and destroyed 35 houses and St. Paul's Catholic Church.

The cause was arson, and four men went to jail.

It was the second fire department visit to the church. In an 1859 blaze, arson was also the cause. Determined fellows, the culprits stuck around and cut fire hoses twice.

Near the turn of the century, Rescue Fire Co. No. 1, the first all-black company was formed in the city. The city's first career black firefighters would not be hired until 1965.

In 1924, seven years after motorized cars took over for the horse-drawn engines, the department began paying.

Two advances in firefighting technology came from Portsmouth this century.

One was an improvement of existing nozzles during World War II. The other came in the 1980s, when firefighters at Portsmouth Fire Headquarters improved the portable, one-man apparatus which allowed them to breath inside smoke-filled compartments as they battled fires.

The original design, Alexander noted, had one tank. So when the firefighter ran out of air, he had to leave the space to get a new air supply. The Portsmouth firefighters devised a system where two tanks could be carried, and rotated without interrupting the flow of air.

Master mechanic Jordan W. Grant designed a nozzle to fight major city fires in the 1920s.

His Grant Multiversal nozzle saw action during World War II, dousing blazes in England set by German bombing raids. As Portsmouth historian Allen Flanders wrote, ``fixed to fire trucks, the nozzle was able to harness the power of at least four hoses and could be set at a target without the constant manning of a fireman.''

The pressurized stream could reach farther, and deep into burning buildings.

``They considered this the foremost contribution to firefighting in modern times,'' Alexander said. ``Portsmouth has been a heavy hitter in putting together innovations.''

The world is different today.

For one thing, rubber firewear is a thing of the past.

Monty flipped through an old firefighting magazine.

``Look at this,'' he said. ``Rubber and canvas fireman's clothing.''

He showed the illustration of the advertisement.

Then he laughed.

``Would you wear something rubber into a fire?'' Alexander asked.

Monty shook his head no.

It would melt onto your skin.

But in October 1946 rubber and canvas was the dream fabric of one fireman's clothing manufacturer.

Portsmouth has changed, too.

The fire department belongs to the city, and follows the businesslike management technique called Continuous Improvement, which is something like Total Quality Leadership, which is loosely based on the Demming Management Method, which a business guy used to revitalize the Japanese business world back in the roaring '80s.

Modern fire engine drivers, for instance, no longer care for and feed the horses - though companies often start their mornings by washing down the trucks.

And firefighting is still a family trade.

Monty's dad, Homer M. Gilbert Jr., was one of the old-time firefighters who helped identify many of the photos which were spread across a bed at Station No. 9 last week. Just a few short months ago he was a 77-year-old retired captain digging through memories.

On Aug. 9, Monty's father passed away.

``Fine fella,'' Ryder said.

``Yes he was,'' Alexander said.

``First class,'' Ryder added.

If there aren't blood links, there is a fraternity which includes their roots - descendants who understand what it's like to jump out of bed and race into a cold night, en route to a blaze.

``If we don't assemble these things,'' Alexander said, ``they will be lost.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff coolor cover photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN

Firefighters work to extinguish a 1992 fire at Fourth Baptist Church

in downtown Portsmouth.

Portsmouth Fire Department photos

Firefighters stand by a motorized engine. The photo was believed

taken in the 1920s. Portsmouth companies became motorized in 1917.

During the World War II era, city firemen test a playpipe nozzle

near the old Wilson High School, now the site of the new Norcom High

School.

Firemen show off the ``chemical wagon'' in the early 1920s.