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Just A Dry Run At City HallWith tongue in cheek, Mayor Eugene Monahan termed Thursday’s inspection of the emergency fire hoses in the City Building as just a “dry run.And dry” it was.About half a dozen city firemen, arriving in a fire truck and the department's emergency vehicle, trooped into the building to conduct the check that had been announced a day earlier by the mayor.Getting quickly down to business, the firemen uncoiled a hose on the first, floor, meticulously carried it through a utility department office, raised a window and pointed the nozzle to the ground.A command went out to turnon the water with added advice to turn the valve slowly in the event it was not working property-The valve was turned ever so slowly, filling the air with excited” anticipation as employes and city officials alike looked on.The wait stretched from several seconds into several minutes. The hose across the floor remained limp and not so much ,as a single drop of water filtered out of the nozzle.Something's wrong,” someone very brilliantly deducted.A second command went out.“Check the main valve in the basement.” the voice Instructed, and three firemen hurriedly moved out of sight and down the stairs.Minutes later they returned and one of them informed the gathering that the main valve had been shut off and plugged up, with no way of immediately reopening it without the aid of a plumber.Despite the seriousness of the situation, few could let it pass without a humorous comment, including Mayor Monahan.“Maybe we can teach our people how to beat out a fire with the hose,” he quipped and then ordered a complete fire inspection of the entire building.The inspection, headed by Fire Chief Bobby Bannon, turned up another shortcoming. Only two fire extinguishers could be found in the entire building.One was a water pressure extinguisher located in the Red Cross office on the buildings second floor and the other a C02 extinguisher resting on a cart in the basement. There were no extinguishers on either the main floor or the third floor.“This is unbelievable,” the mayor said.“I thought we might find a defective valve or a bad hose,” added Bannon, “but I don’t believe anyone had any idea that the water to the fire hoses had been turned off.”No one could remember when the fire hoses had las' been inspected. b'or could officials find anyone who had any knowledge of why the main valve had been shut off and capped, although there was one report that some leaks had developed at one time, and it was closed off at that time for that purpose.The mayor said at noon that building codes were being checked to determine the amount of fire protection required in a public building and that corrective steps would be taken immediately.
Newspaper Details
Logansport Pharos Tribune and Press
Logansport, Indiana, US
Thu, Jan 23, 1969
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Thelma C.
IN, USA 09 Jan 2019
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