by Paul R. Spitzzeri
For this sixth part of a deep dive into the report of the Los Angeles City Auditor, now Controller, for the year ending 30 November 1904, we turn to the statement provided by the Fire Department, which was nearing two decades as a professional force after about 15 years of volunteer fire service, including Elijah H. Workman (brother of city treasurer and former mayor William H. Workman) as a member.
By the time the report was published in spring 1905, the department was newly headed by Chief Walter Lips, replacing Thomas Strohm, who was in charge during the period covered in the document. The general statement was presented by Strohm, who noted in this nineteenth edition that it contained a description of department property and materiel, its work during the year, and “such suggestions and recommendations as I deem absolutely necessary to enable the Department to keep pace with the rapid growth of the city and afford the necessary protection to life and property.”
He began with commenting that the machine shop behind Engine Company 4 on Aliso Street, near where U.S. 101 runs through downtown now, was where new boilers were put on engines, engine machinery reworked, a chemical and hose wagon constructed, a 65-foot water tower was nearing completion and more.
As to new engine houses, there were five mentioned, three of which were reconfigured from two hose companies and a chemical engine company, while two were entirely new structures, so that the inventory of engine companies grew from a baker’s dozen to 18. The outgoing chief suggested four more engines at identified locations (one purchased and the others requested), while a hose company house in East Los Angeles (renamed Lincoln Heights) be converted to a larger one incorporating a hook and ladder truck.
With respect to hydrants, Strohm recommended that they be used only for purposes of the fire department and that “separate connections be provided for [street] sprinkling purposes” because “the department has been seriously handicapped at various time by finding the hydrants in poor condition.” He also called for the building of a water battery and drill tower, the latter being important for training so that personnel would be “taught to have confidence in themselves while working on roofs, ladders and fire escapes.”
Lastly, he asked for at least 5,000 feet of new house, providing each company two lines and thanked city officials for “hearty support, courtesy, consideration and appreciation” of the LAFD, the water commission for new hydrants, police chief William A. Hammel for LAPD assistance at fire calls, his personnel “for their attention to duty and prompt efficient work,” and to the residents and taxpayers of the Angel City for “good will, hearty support, and appreciation of our efforts.”
Department expenses totaled about $193,000 for the prior year, with almost three-quarters in salaries and the next five items in size being hay for the horses pulling wagons (motor vehicles were, however, on the near horizon with horses last used in 1921—the LAFD was the first department in the nation to use an electric engine, delivered in spring 2022); hose; the water tower; hardware and tools; and horses—these combined being just under a fifth of costs. Outside of general department expenditures, expenses were also listed by engine house and the main yard and machine shop. General funds totaling $56,000 were applied to new fire engines (a quarter of the amount) and new lots, structures and remodeled buildings at nine locations.
An inventory of property table included those for the 18 engine companies, three hose companies and the chemical company with identification of the lot and block along with the tract name, lot size, from whom the property was acquired, the type of structure (all but one of two stories and a half-dozen of wood frame and the remainder brick), the purchase price of the lot and the cost of construction. A list of apparatus included steam and chemical engines, hose and chemical wagons, hook and ladder trucks, buggies, supply wagons, hose, and chemical extinguishers, among others.
For the period December 1903 to November 1904, there were 818 alarm calls, of which 11% were false and also listed were the ways in which alarms were sounded, so that 47% came from fire boxes, 34% were from telephone calls, and 13% were from a combination of the two, with the rest considered “stills,” meaning personnel came up on an incident, were flagged down, and so on.
Also indicated was time of day for alarms, with the largest number of 60 occurring from 8 to 9 p.m. and the fewest of 10 from 6 to 7 a.m., while financial loss totals included 37% of no value and another of 14% of under $5, so half were considered nominal or of no loss. After that the largest number of incidents, 75, were for losses between $100 and 500 and only a dozen were above $10,000, with one each of $100,000 or more and $150,000 or more.
As to fire were put out, occupants of buildings did so 31% of the time, while water was used 24% and chemicals 18% of the time. A combination of the latter two, buckets of water and the use of garden houses were also listed, while ten fires were smothered for suppression. A table showed the apparatus used by month in the extinguishing of blazes in terms of gallons of chemical applied and feet of hose and ladders employed.
From 1888, the number of alarms and losses were given, with 163 of the former and $300,000 of the latter that first year, and much lower losses over the next decade as alarms remained about the same through the mid-1890s. There was a dramatic increase in both from 1898, when there were 342 alarms and just shy of $300,000 in loss, through 1904, with 818 and $528,000, respectively, though there were significant variations in each, dependent, presumably, on the types of structures involved when it came to loss.
For the 1903-1904 year, May was the worst month for property loss at $166,000, followed by January at $153,000, with no other month above March’s $46,000 after that and only $7,340 in June. As to causes of alarms, nearly a quarter were unknown and 18% from “bonfires, brush, rubbish, etc..), while 9% were from gas stove explosions. Roughly the other half of the causes included chimney fires, crossed wires, cigarettes and cigars, defective chimney flues, coal oil and gas explosions, gas stoves, smoke observed, candles and matches, spontaneous combustion and many others.
In the classification of locations, a third of alarms involved dwellings and residences and another 8% from rooming houses. Outbuildings such as barns and stables and sheds and associated fences comprised another 8%, with offices and office buildings, restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, flats (apartments) and bakeries involving another 12%. There were some notable descriptors, as well, including “Chinese stores” and “tamale wagons” segregated from other businesses; chicken breeders; and sump holes, among the many other classes delineated.
A table also listed 552 fires in buildings by construction type, essentially frame and brick, though there were two blazes in adobe structures, of which very few remained at the time. Hardly a surprise is that three-quarters of the conflagrations were in frame buildings and half in single-story ones, predominantly residences, while a quarter were in brick structures, the majority of three stories and under. Almost all fires began and were confined to one structure, with just a handful (14) spreading beyond, while 175 blazes occurred outside of buildings.
There were 17 casualties, of which only three were fatalities, one from a bonfire, another from a lamp explosion and the third involving a hanging lamp, and gas or oil was the source in most incidents. Two dozen LAFD personnel were injured during the year, nine from exposure, presumably to smoke inhalation, with a couple burned. Other injuries resulted from an engine overturning (two incidences), a hoseman being kicked by a horse and a driver whose foot was stepped on by an animal, a driver falling through a pole hole at a station, a hoseman who fell from a wagon and cuts and other wounds.
As to monthly salaries, the chief earned $250 with the assistant making $175. Captains were paid $115 (second class) and $125 (first class); lieutenants were paid $90; engineers from $100-$120 depending on class; drivers from $80-$85; hosemen and laddermen from $60-$80 based on years of experience; and drivers, on the same basis, from $60-$70. The Firemen’s Relief Fund received $1,400 in donations during the year, 42% from a benefit baseball game with the rest from individuals and businesses, the latter including brickmakers, meatpackers, brewers, an ice company and an ironworking firm. Payouts of $424 were largely to personnel injured as noted above.
There is also a table of the 104 horses utilized by the department with the name, color, purchase date, age, weight and height of each. Babe was the elder of the crew at 21 years and acquired in 1889, with the youngest of the animals being 4 years of age and all purchased during the preceding year. 97 of the horses were assigned to engine companies and other segments of the department, including one for the chief and two to the assistant chief. Four animals were sold and two died during that year, as well.
An illustration showed how to pull an alarm with accompanying text providing directions including what to say when a telephone alarm was made, while the eight types of signals were also given. A list of 641 alarm boxes and their locations was provided, with about three dozen not in use.
A report from Fire Marshal George Sutton noted that there were over 1,100 buildings inspected, along with nearly 800 electrical inspections. For abatement, over 1,400 concerned required changes to electric systems, about 36% of the nearly 4,000 items listed. Other major ones were for gas heaters; wood, metal and ash rubbish barrels; rubbish in yards and basements; and chemical fire extinguishers installed or recharged.
A Personnel and Equipment of Department section, with photo collages of engine houses and chemical and hose company stations, listed personnel, expenses, property details (also on the aforementioned table), and more. A list of the members of the Board of Fire Commissioners, along with a photo of the current cadre, since 1889, and the names of chiefs from the volunteer era along with the paid period from 1886. This section, though lengthy and detailed, is a great resource for understanding the situation involving firefighting at the turn of the 20th century in the Angel City and when responding to fires, not medical emergencies, was what the LAFD handled.
A single-page report was provided by A.L. Wilson, manager of the the City Labor Bureau, which was established early in 1893 as a service for job placement and denoted as the Free Labor Bureau, evidently because there were no fees charged to those seeking its assistance. The 10 January 1905 edition of the Los Angeles Herald, just prior to the compilation of the auditor’s report, noted that there was not just a name change, but that the city would pay the entirety of the manager’s salary whereas, previously, the county ponied up half. While a free reading room was maintained, a final change was that services were no longer free and “now a charge of twenty-five cents will be made for securing a place for an applicant.”
Two years later, however, the bureau was considered for abolishment by the council because, some members contended, it was no longer thought necessary as a private employment agency cornered the market on workers hired for the recently inaugurated Los Angeles Aqueduct project, the massive city endeavor to bring water well over 200 miles from Inyo County in eastern California to the Angel City and which was completed in fall 1913. Two council members formed a committee to look into terminating the bureau, but a colleague charged that “a certain councilman wants to put his friend in the place as manager” and then added,
It is a charitable department of the city to keep poor men and women out of the clutches of grafting employment agencies and to keep them out of the city institutions by helping them to get work. It in a way prevents crime, for men who can find work seldom resort to crime.
While the shuttering of the bureau was forestalled, the end finally came at the conclusion of 1909, when a 6-3 vote terminated the organization. Several council members opined that “it is only a place for the unemployed who did not wish employment and would not accept it if it was given to them, to congregate and loaf.” A lone council member managed to keep it viable for a time, but finally lost his battle.
For the 1904 report, Wilson noted that, in addition to the portion of his salary paid for by the municipality, expenses comprised of office space rent, a telephone, books and printing, and the use of a horse and buggy, totaling $306, so the aggregate amount was under $1,000. There were 5,675 applications taken and all were considered “orders filled,” with the busiest month of the past year being September when there 708 applications and June being second with 632. The quietest months were the previous winter, including 316 in January and 325 the following month. Unfortunately, there was no further detail with respect to the types of jobs sought and secured or other data.
We will return tomorrow for the statements of the health and public library departments with plenty more interesting material about the state of Los Angeles city government operations at the turn of the 20th century, so please check back then.