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ByHenrySchafer Editor'snote:Thisstory originally appeared in the April 17, 1970 edition of the Daily News. The Red Bluff Fire De- partment had a little din- ner, and I thought I might as well write a few words, as much as I know about the Red Bluff Fire Department. When I first came to Red Bluff, they had a hand pump, which took about six men on each side to be able to get enough water to put out a fire. They finally sold it to Weaverville for $75. I don't suppose you could get it from them now for almost any price. Then they got a small steamer and a team of horses. The fellow — his name was Bailey — used to haul gravel out of the creek at So. Jackson during work- ing hours, then the rest of the time he would be at the fire hall. If he was hauling gravel, he would dump the gravel, make a run for the firehouse, then go to the fire. He would start a fire in the boiler before he left, but mostly by the time he got to the fire, there wasn't much left of the house as it was burned down. Then they got a better en- gine and finally put a boiler down the basement that would help the water warm in the boiler. Then they got an extra team of horses that stood a little behind the engine. When the fire bell rang, of course, there was always a driver there, he would pull a rope that kept the horses away from the engine. The harness for the horses was hanging overhead above the engine tongue. He would pull a rope, the harness would fall on the horses' back, then it would be snapped together. There was also a little glass jar inside of the firebox. He would pull a little rope and the jar would break. There was some kind of liquid in it, I don't know what it was. Anyway, by the time they got to the fire, they would have steam to pump the wa- ter out of the hydrants. At 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., just to keep the horses in prac- tice, the fire bell would give three taps and the fel- low on duty would pull the rope and the horses would spring in place. Of course, he wouldn't start the fire in the boiler. Yes, the horses were smart. Also, a little be- fore 8, either mornings or evenings, the horses would get restless waiting for the bell to ring and him to pull the rope, so they would jump on each side of the tongue on the fire engine. I joined the fire depart- ment in the spring of 1897. I was working in the butcher shop of Underbill and Cole- man just south of Dale's In- surance office, when the fire bell rang. I ran to see where the fire was. It was in the alley where Ehorn's Phar- macy is now. There were some old shacks in the alley I got hold of a hose with a nozzle and went close to the fire. Of course, I got soaking wet. After we rolled up the hose, Henry Weitfeld, who was fire chief, said to me, "I think you would make a good fireman. How about joining?" I said, "OK." He asked, "How old are you?" And I answered, "17." He asked, "When is your birth- day?" And I said, "May 15." "Well," he said, "I will put your name in. It will take a couple months to get you voted on, anyway, and you will be 18 by then." I forgot all about it. Any- way, later one day he came in and said, "Well, you are a member of the fire depart- ment now." Some time later, I volunteered for the Span- ish-American War, but I was still on the roster. Af- ter I got back from the war, I went to their meetings again when I was in Red Bluff. I worked at Lyons- ville for the Sierra Lumber Co. for two years, then an- other year for another com- pany out from Sisson. It's called Mt. Shasta now. Getting back to the fire department — they needed someone to fire the engine in case of a fire. Finally, Henry Weitfield said to me, "Do you know anything about firing a boiler?" "Yes," I answered, "I've worked in the woods for three years. I know all about firing a boiler" He replied, "Well, let's see." They took the en- gine out, I started to fire the boiler and had steam in a short time. Yes, I fired the engine for quite a few years. If I was hauling blocks and happened to be across the river, the watchman on the river bridge let me go pretty fast, he knew I was needed to fire the engine. I got $2.50 for a fire and $1.25 for false alarms. After a fire, I dumped all the ashes in the street, it was all gravel then, let it cool off, then got things ready for the next fire. I would put some light shavings on the bottom of the boiler, then some pitch wood (I would save this when hauling blocks), then some fine kindling wood, then coarser wood, then some chunks of coal on top. There was always some coal close to the firebox and, if needed, a little two-wheel cart with more coal in it. Yes, the old engine they had was an extra good one. I remember when the old Opera House burned it was a one and a half story building. There was the old Brady Livery Stable on the corner next to it. They had three lines of hose on it but I kept the steam up. It was so hot there, I would put in a few shovels full of coal, then run around the other side. My back felt like it was afire. I fired the old engine for quite a few years, even af- ter I was married I remem- ber one July 4 when there was a little fire on the up- per end of Jackson Street Henry Weitfield, the fire chief, said when we went past the ice house, "It's July 4. Let's take a keg of beer along." Anyway, we got a keg of beer. Of course, I had to get the engine ready for the next fire before I could join the other firemen. We had lots of sandwiches and beer. Finally, the phone rang. It was my wife, who asked, "Where is my hus- band?" They looked at me and laughed and said, "He is still busy. He will be home soon." A little later I looked out of the front door and saw my wife with a baby buggy. My oldest boy, who would have been 64 now, was in it. She looked around and said, "Where is my hus- band?" They laughed and said, "He went home quite a while ago." Anyway, after I had seen her, I had jumped on my bike and, of course, beat her home. When she got home, I said, "Where is my dinner? I'm nearly starved." She looked at my stomach sticking way out and said, "Yes, you surely look hungry." After a fire, they used to have a book in the hall and everyone present wrote his name in it, so when they had a meeting they would have a roll call and all fire- men present would have to mention if they had not been at any of the fires. Of course, they were all volun- teers. The only ones paid were the fellows who took care of the horses and the boiler. Now they have a reg- ular paid fire department and, of course, still some volunteers. They used to have quite an initiation. They had a barber chair at the meet- ing place. If there was some fellow who wanted to join, the chief would look at him and say, "I think he needs a shave." So they would blind- fold him, then put a lot of shaving cream on his face. They had an old style razor, very dull, and would start to shave him. Some fellow had a little battery hooked on to the wire and the fel- low who was shaving would wink to the fellow with the battery. Well, he would con- nect it and the fellow would get a little shock. Some fel- low would say, "Gee, you cut his face." That way he would get several shocks. Then a fellow with a sponge would drop a few drops of water on his face and the fellows would say, "Gee, his whole face is bleeding. You should not shave a man if you don't know how." Af- terwards, they would wash his face, take the blindfold off and give him a mirror to look into He would look all over his face, looking for cuts in it but couldn't see a scratch. There was an extra hose cart in the fire hall in case it would be needed. When the fire bell rang, the fel- lows who used to bring stuff from the depot to the differ- ent stores would run to the fire hall and take it to the fire. They would get $1 for it. Some of the fellows, they had mostly only one horse, had their horses trained. Some horses wouldn't even wait for their drivers but make a straight line for the fire hall. Yes, we had a good fire department. Henry Weit- field finally had to quit. There were several after him. Bill Whitt, I think was chief longer than any- one else. He was a fine man, hated to see him have to quit. I know one time they had another big fire at the- ater. There were firemen and volunteers in the alley and on Washington Street. The fellow on Washington Street got scared. He hol- lered to one of the firemen, "Please, save my home. It's the only home I've got." One of the firemen up the lad- der laughed and said, "It's pretty tiresome up here. If we had a bottle of whiskey, I think it would help." So he got him a bottle of whis- key and thereby saved his house. Of course, that was a long time ago and it finally had to be torn down. I used to take movies when I was able to see. Took movies of the fire department in all kinds of parades. Yes, times have changed. We used to have big parades on Memo- rial Day, July 4 and so on, but nothing more. To us older people, it seems like a shame. My son, Hank Scha- fer, joined the fire depart- ment when he grew up. For a while, he and I were the only father and son who belonged to the fire depart- ment. Later on there were a few more. My uncle, Paul Stoll, was a charter mem- ber when they started the first fire department in Red Bluff. I have a copy of all the names who joined that time. Will try and find it sometime. No doubt, the fire department has a copy of it. Another thing I don't want to forget are the hose cart races. There used to be 10 men pulling the nose cart A long rope was in front of the cart. It had a certain amount of hose on it to take a certain amount of weight. They used to race at different places like Chico, Redding and so on. A heavy fellow would run be- hind as he had to pull the hose off the cart, and when they were running as fast as they could, it took a strong man to get it started unroll- ing. Henry Preusser gener- ally was the fellow. He was tall and strong. While racing in Red Bluff, they would start at Main Street, on the cor- ner of Zuckwieler's Store, then they would run down to where the News office is now (710 Main St.). Then Preusser would get a hold of the end of the hose and pull hard so it would unroll. The crew would keep run- ning as far as where Dale's Insurance office is now. Then they had to uncouple the hose and put on the noz- zle. The trick was if the fel- low waited too long to turn the water on, of course, they would lose. If he turned it on too soon, they couldn't put the nozzle on. They had two fellows timing it to the second. I know one time they were racing a crew from Redding and they beat Redding by one and a half seconds. When they raised the flag of the team who won, of course, they all cheered, but when they lost, of course, it was different. Alf Walton used to be the captain of the hose cart rac- ing team. I have a photo of the crew standing on the south side of the old city hall. Too bad Leo McCoy has passed away, he would have known the names of all the fellows on the team. Yes, things have changed. When they had the old fire bell and there was a fire and the wind was blowing hard, many firemen couldn't hear it. The siren now can be heard even when the wind blows. Then, of course, there are the fireboxes. Each has a different num- ber and by looking at the chart, you can tell where the fire is. I think the Daily News should print them all some time, so if he siren blows a fellow could tell if it was near his house. Stores used to use the box numbers for advertising their stores. They would put their ad in a space in the middle, then the box numbers on each side. When the siren blew, you could tell about where the fire was and, of course, you would look at the ad of the store. Yes, you can't tell now when the siren blows. The fire department, not long ago, had a dinner sim- ilar to the recent one. The fellows were just getting ready to eat when the si- ren blew. Of course, they all had to leave. They had their wives and sweethearts along to help eat the din- ner. One fellow who had been invited to the dinner came in, looked around and saw nearly all ladies. He said, "This is the darndest fire department I ever saw. Looks like there are only women in it." Ha, ha. A sad thing I witnessed one time. There was quite a fire, don't like to tell where it was. Dan Bayles belonged to the fire department. That was the accident in which he was injured. He is a won- derful photographer now, has a fine shop, so if you need pictures of any kind, see Bayles, he does a fine job. People ought to appre- ciate his belonging to the fire department and by try- ing to help them fight fires, he lost the use of his legs. The firemen also give a dance at the Veterans Hall every New Year to help pay some of their expenses, but it seems the last two years the turnout has been rather poor, so please show your patriotism by buying a ticket whether you will go or not. You owe it to the city and the fire department for protection of your own home. You don't know when your home might catch fire. There is still quite a group of volunteer firemen. If it wasn't for them, the cost of the Red Bluff Fire Department would be much higher. We also have a new chief because Bill Whitt re- tired He (new chief) seems to have some different ways some time as we used to have. Maybe it's a good idea to get out of the old rut. We, of course, also have a new city hall. There is more room for equipment of the fire department. Still us old- timers miss the old city hall. There's a parking lot there now. Red Bluff doesn't seem the same without it. I hope Zuckwieler's will never tear the old tower down with the old clock on it. Red Bluff would never look the same anymore. March 17 is the anniversary of the passing of Henry Schafer. He was born May 15, 1879 and died March 17, 1978. His spouse was Augusta C. Peters and his children were Henry A. Schafer, Robert F. Schafer, Mary Alice Schafer and Josephine E. Schafer. LOCAL HISTORY Oldtimerrecallsbygonedaysoffiredepartment The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Carol T. Christ, a scholar of Victo- rian literature and former president of Smith Col- lege, was named the next chancellor of the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley on Thursday and the first woman in the school's 149- year history to hold the po- sition. The UC Board of Re- gents, the governing board of the system's 10 schools, voted unanimously to ap- prove Christ's nomination and welcomed her with a standing ovation. UC President Janet Na- politano called Christ "a re- markable person, a vision- ary and a first." Christ started her aca- demic career as an assis- tant professor at Berkeley in 1970, at a time when only 3 percent of the faculty were women, and stayed on cam- pus for the next 32 years holding a variety of posi- tions from chair of the Eng- lish Department to dean of humanities and ultimately executive vice chancellor, the UC president's office said in a statement. She then served as the president of Smith College from 2002 to 2013, then re- turned to Berkeley in 2015 to become interim exec- utive vice chancellor and provost. 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