Mr. Izzy Goes to Washington, D.C.

[IzzyEng4 427]

I took a trip to the Nation's Capitol a few days ago for the first time. My original intention was to meet our President and our House Speaker over at the Billy Goat Tavern to have a "Cheezborger" and "a Pepsi, no Coke" to try an fix this money mess we are in. Needless to say, they never took up my offer so I can tell them ............. well you know.

ANYWAY....... right across the street from the Billy Goat is Engine Company No. 3 aka "Columbia Fire Company" which was originally organized in 1804 to protect Capitol Hill. When the DCFD was transformed into a paid department, the Columbian volunteers became a paid unit. The current firehouse was erected in 1916 and house Engine 3 and Truck 1. Both units had been disbanded do to budget cuts but Engine 3 was reactivated a short time later, Truck 1 never was re-activated. Engine 3 also operates Engine 52, which is a "water supply wagon".

Located on the third floor of the firehouse is the Friendship Fire Association & Museum. The unit is comprised of fire buffs and retired members. I took a few pics to share, please give me a few minutes to up load them all. Also when you click on the photo, the will enlarge greatly so you can zoom in on the details.

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This is the view when you walk into the door on the third floor. The history in this room spans two centuries.

This is a department picture from the early 1900s. Though you couldn't have the entire department there at the Capitol, this was one heck of a "cut and paste" photo of the department. Not bad for an age without computers. The active firehouse for the time surround the photo and the chiefs, assistants and company officers are in between (sorry for the blurry photo). We complain having no staffing and crappy work hours. How about working 7 days a week, then get 1 day off, 3 hours a day for meals, and if someone was out sick or on vacation, your day off was automatically cancelled!!!

Next is the size of the City of Washington, District of Columbia prior to the annexation of Georgetown, Maryland and areas north of the line shown in this map. Originally Arlington, Virginia was part of the District of Columbia but was given back to Virgina before the current DC limits.

Okay fellow union workers, and I mean all union workers. How would you like to have to petition Congress for a pay raise????

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Here's for the Gamewell fans. 1895 alarm decoder.

And the back.

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This case had some interesting items from the old days.

Helmet shields from the volunteer days and a typical old style "hand-tub" used before the paid department.

Close up on a lantern. A little history on this piece, the number of the does not meet up with the company name in DCFD's history. It came from elsewhere and DCFD put the number 15 on it.

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This is what caught my eye. How many "stove pipe" leather parade hats are left in existence? Here is a few and three of them are from the Columbia, Hibernia and Franklin companies of Washington (if my memory serve me correctly from the tour).

The helmet on the top right rack in this picture was given to the Washington firemen from a chief of Baltimore during the Great Fire in their town. DC's firemen went to assist their brothers in Baltimore when the call came out. The helmet was given in appreciation of their response. After loading up their equipment on a train, the DC firemen arrive in Baltimore in 30 minutes at full steam. Quite a speed back then.

DCFD members used leather helmets then switched to the aluminum Senators for a while. Then they switched to the old "duck-bill" style then to a more modern Carins composite. Now members can wear their own leather helmets as long as its an approved one by OSHA (there is that four-lettered dirty word!! ).

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More artifacts on display.

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Back in the day, everyone on a neighborhood, town, village, ect., had to own a bucket for the local fire brigade. The number of buckets required back then are similar to the rules for extinguishers in a building today. If it was a one story home, the you had one bucket, two floors - two buckets, businesses may have more. Each bucket had the owners name on them so they could be returned after a fire. The fill line was comprised of men either throwing water onto the fire or into a hand tub fire engine. The bucket return line to the fill site was comprised of women and children. Everyone in the community was involved!!! Many early fire companies were the organizers of the old bucket brigades and its members were tasked to organize the water flow, sack and salvage a building's contents and guard over the homeowner's items. Pretty much explains how some companies like fire patrols, fire police, ect., today lay their histories too.

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Badges from the US.

Badges and patches from other countries.

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This is the meeting room for for the FFA and its contents.

Response proclamation of DCFD and FFA to the Pentagon September 11, 2001.

The Constitution and By-Laws of the Columbia Fire Company.

A really neat picture of DC's ten Hahn fire engines shortly after their delivery and lined up in front of their most famous first due building. This was the biggest single order of apparatus at one time by what I was told.

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This is a replica of a typical response back during the 1960s for the DCFD. Up until the 1990s, all engine companies ran with two pieces, the engine and the hose wagon. So you would typically get three engine companies (6 pumpers), a ladder company, the rescue squad and a battalion chief. The hose wagons would take the hydrant and lay into the scene then the engine attachment would hook up to the hydrant and pump to the hose wagon. One of the big thing DCFD is key on is to "cover the rear". One engine company always goes to the rear of the building due to the way they are situated in the city.

[IzzyEng4 427]

That's it for now. Will post more later. And as always, these pictures are mine and no unauthorized use is permitted without my expressed consent.

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Okay, some more.

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[ex-commish 490]

Izzy very nice pictures. I love history especially fire service history. Thank you for sharing.

[IzzyEng4 427]

After 9/11, the dedication for the Firefighters' Memorial was held in Washington DC due to the number of our members lost that year. With Emmitsburg being a small community, it could not hold such an influx of attendees along with the families. With that DC hosted the memorial services and this replica of the memorial was created for the event. The FFA acquired the replica to preserve it in the museum.

The FFA also operates an antique Ford fire engine equipped with a Darley pump and body work. The pump is ran by a separate motor.

This view shows the inside bay at the firehouse. DC's firehouse have bi-fold doors instead of overhead opening doors that we are common too. This is a good look of what all three bays look like facing out to the street.

[IzzyEng4 427]

Since this is an active firehouse, it is fitting to show you what's on the main floor. Unfortunately I was not able to get up to the crew quarters on the second floor since I was press for time to catch my train.

Engine 3

Engine 52 (LDH Water Supply Wagon)

DCFD runs 4 men on an engine, 5 on trucks and 5 on the rescues as well as staffing additional units. Since Engine 3 is a "water supply company" they run a second "wagon" with LDH instead of three inch supply line. The day I was there, Engine 3 was heavy with a staffing of 5, so one member stayed behind with the wagon. If there is a four member crew, one member comes off the engine and drives the hose wagon to the scene together. If Engine 3 is out on an alarm with no one in the firehouse left behind, another company will pick up this unit and response to the scene with it. Also it is available to be staffed upon call back for large incidents.

If you get a chance to go down and visit our Capitol, definitely pay a visit. Just one suggestion, go in the spring or fall as it's really humid down there this time of year!

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

[fire 1 asst chief 49]

Great, thanx for sharing

[JBE 328]

Great shots!!!

[IzzyEng4 427]

Thanks! I forgot to add, Jimmy who was kind enough to show me around had said the city was looking into building a new firehouse for Enigne 3 and if that happened, the FFA would get the existing building to them selves to be a museum. Also the FFA operates the Canteen and also responds with the Rehab unit for the department. The Rehab is utilized by DCFD EMS when it arrives on scene.

[Guest Photounit]

Izzy...... Well done! Thanks for sharing!

[sfrd18 360]

Awesome shots Izzy! It's great to see some history from the Capitol City.