The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 138 - History of American Firefighters

Episode Date: December 13, 2015

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the history of American firefighters. SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

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I read a story to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Sorry? No, no, no, no, no, no. I was just stuck. Stuck in what? There's a brain thing. I think I know a guy who shared that similar element. A tap. Was it a tamper wound? Yeah. I have a tampering wound. Tamping wound. Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Dave, okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come with tickling people. You are queen fakie of Hade uptown. All hail queen shit of Liesville.

A bunch of religious virgins go to Mingle and do what? Hi, Gary. No. I see you've done, my friend. No. 1608. Oh, shit. Don't get too excited. The first recorded structure fire in the U.S. happened in the colony of Jamestown. I guess it wasn't the U.S., it was America. Sure. On January 7th, an extensive fire leveled most. Well, that's an amazing thing to just recognize so far. You would not catch me going like, actually. That it wasn't the U.S.?

That it wasn't the United States. That was the American colonies at that point. Yeah, it is true. Jamestown colony. On January 7th, an extensive fire leveled most of the colony. Captain John Smith wrote, quote, most of our apparel, lodging, and private provisions were destroyed. I begin to think that it is safer for me to dwell in the wild Indian country than in the stockade where fools accidentally discharge their muskets and others burn down their homes at night. I mean, that's really saying something if you're like, I'll just go with the Native Americans.

Because I'm living with idiots. Yeah, because at least they'll be pissed, but they can think. Signed Captain John fucking Smith. I didn't realize he changed his middle name. In 1638, Massachusetts passed the first no smoking law in America. Oh, boy. What, really? Yeah. That's the first place? 1638, Massachusetts. They said no smoking? Yeah, but outdoors. No smoking outdoors? Because so many village fires people can no longer smoke outdoors. Oh, okay.

They were growing outside and smoking and flipping their ashes and setting houses on fire. So really they passed the no being stupid law. No being stupid outside. You could only smoke inside. Because you're stupid. Because you're all too stupid. So now you all smoke inside. It's the opposite of now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. In 1648. Get inside, you dirty smoker. Come on. Get, dear close mouth. You've been smoking outside. Yeah. Oh, God, I knew it.

In 1648, the very first fire wardens were appointed in New Amsterdam. Do you know what New Amsterdam is, at least? New York. Okay. They would check residential. Don't give me at least. I'm just checking. Don't give me at least.

I'm checking. Look at what you're wearing. I look fucking good, bro. I look good. You look like you just came out of a Minnesota off-track bedding. If honestly, if I had a toothpick, I could be arrested for illegal gambling. I mean, we should just at least say I'm wearing my red Adidas pants, a red T-shirt, my Minards hat, and a winter jacket. So the very first fire wardens were appointed in New Amsterdam in 1648.

They would check residential chimneys and then find people, if necessary. In 1653, Boston burned down. In January 1653, America had its first large fire. This giant portion of Boston burned, destroying entire blocks. A law was then passed requiring every house to have at least one ladder and for the city to buy fire equipment. The next year, the first fire engine was used in Boston. Other cities started passing laws as the threat of fires became a problem.

In 1696, the legislature of Pennsylvania passed a fire bill. Now residents couldn't clean their chimneys with fire. They couldn't clean their chimneys with fire? Yeah. Okay. So have you ever heard of a chimney fire? Oh, is that where you have like a chimney that's just filthy? You have so much soot in the chimney that it basically is like charcoal, and so you

start a fire and the chimney sets on fire and then it's like a Roman candle coming out of the top of your house. Which by the way, I don't know why we're outlawing Roman candle homes, but that's a debate for another time. I'm saying that's beautiful. Thank you. Thought this was America last time I checked. That's what I thought.

What about freedom? So no longer could you clean your chimney by lighting your chimney on fire, which sounds pretty... Sounds like a great idea. Well, it sounds like if you're just like, hey, you're not using any fire on that chimney, are you? All right. Get back to using it only for Santa.

Every house had to have leather buckets to fight fires and to fucking party. Leather buckets? Yeah, because they wouldn't catch on fire. Leather buckets. A leather bucket. A wooden bucket is going to catch on fire. True, but leather buckets also sounds like something Hannibal Lecter would use. That's also a party.

Yeah. Right. You could smoke in the streets. All money from fines would go to the purchase of equipment like leather buckets or fire engines. Okay. Benjamin Franklin was an American looking for solutions to stop fires. My favorite president.

Thank you. In his Gazette newspaper, he wrote that prevention was the key. Quote, I would advise them to take care how they move living coals in a full shovel to be carried out of one room into another or up or downstairs for scraps of fire may fall into chinks and make no appearance until midnight when your stairs being in flames, you may be forced, as I once was, to leap out of your window and hazard your necks to avoid being aroasted. So much, Dave.

First of all, okay, let's start with this. The idea that Benjamin Franklin ever jumped out of a window like Bruce Willis is pretty exciting when his house is on fire. Everybody, get down. I can only assume it exploded, right? Yeah. Three. Keep going.

Franklin. Yeah. Benjamin Franklin is fire escape. Fiery Ben. But the other thing is, so we were basically just really dumb when it came to fire. So you would have a fireplace. Yeah. And you would need to.

You don't have a lot of firewood, you don't have a lot of coal. So at night, you're in the living room and you have a fire and then you go take time for bed and then you take the coal, the kids room and you take some to your room and put it in the fireplace. Sure. Sure. But to not know that you need to be extremely careful and aware during that process. You do that with a shovel because that's the best way to do it.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, we have leather buckets for a reason, gang. Or a fork. Yeah. You can also do it with a fork. Yeah. Yeah, a fork. Yeah.

Or some paper. In 1733, Franklin suggested, quote, a club or society of active men belonging to each fire engine whose business is to attend all fires with it whenever they happen. We will call them the fire engine employee force. Franklin's suggestion led to the formation of Philadelphia's first volunteer fire brigade in 1736. It was called the Union Fire Company. Okay.

So fucking Franklin meant to the fucking US fire and UFC and also the UFC. The idea was so popular that Franklin told men to form their own fire brigades over the next few years. Many fire companies were formed. They had names like the heart in hand, the hand in hand, the Britannia, the dick in hand, the human fire company, the King George III, the fellowship, the Northern Liberty, the Vigilant Fire Company, the fame in the junior fame, the amicables, the crown in the beaver, the Neptune Fire Companies, were running out of names.

Hey, I work for the amicable fire department. Get out. That's what I'm used to. Have a good day. Hopefully I didn't ruffle any feathers. Love you guys. I mean that. We work with the crown on the beaver.

Thank you. Okay. The crown on the beaver. The crown on the beaver. That's the one that's the last. The crown on the beaver. All right, guys. Listen, the fire engine's painted and I'm going to be the first to say there's no more drunk

voting. We're not voting drunk anymore. Good. Okay. Yes. And Charlie, you've been drinking still. And you're the one who came up with the beaver. The crown on the beaver?

I thought we were just the beavers. No. God damn it. I don't know who came up with crown either, but it's on the goddamn fire engine. Fuck, I thought we were the beavers. Yeah. Okay. So the flame near him will catch on fire.

What's that? Fire? Oh God. Benjamin Franklin also started the first property insurance company in the U.S. So this, let me, let me, let me show you what just happened here. Benjamin Franklin invented the fire department. And then fire insurance. Fire insurance.

Hey, what's the way to make money off this shit? Uh, Benny, Benny, Benny. No wonder they put you on the hundred. The Philadelphia contribution ship for the insurance houses from loss by fire. Catchy. Really catchy. I mean, seriously. Short.

Catchy. Was created in 1752. It is the oldest U.S. property insurance company and it is still operating today. Okay. Inspectors were, I'm sure they shortened the name. Yeah. I think they have. And I think they still use Benjamin Franklin as their logo, I think.

It is the oldest. Yep. I did that. They had to stop buildings to see if the risk of insurance was worth it. Sometimes the inspector made recommendations and then the board of directors voted on whether or not the place should be insured. Wow. Some houses were denied because they did not meet legal specifications.

Policyholders must have a trap door to the roof to fight roof and chimney fires. What? Yeah. That's awesome. Benjamin Franklin's life. We should have trap doors in our ceilings from regardless. Yeah, right? Yeah.

We should be able to go up there and I should be like, you see Dave? Also zombie attacks. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. That's where you want to be. Thank you. And if you're worried about ninja presence or if you want to capture Santa.

Ninjas is a problem. The ninjas is coming. Oh, ninjas around this neighborhood have been terrible recently. I've read in the news. Yeah. We don't have ninjas where I am. I know. Well, you're in a nicer part of Santa.

Yeah. Yeah. That's right. You know, I used to live where they had shinobis and that was, oh, they're like bedbugs. Once they nest. No, they shouldn't. Once they nest. Yeah.

Once they get rid of them. Once they nest. I know. I heard that. I wasn't sure if the mic was on. I'm sorry. Like I said, some has denied Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod also help prevent fires. That is true.

That's fucking crazy. Yeah. Crazy. If you had trees in front of your house, you could not get insurance because hoses could not get around the trees. I don't know what that means. Fun. Try to figure it out.

Try to figure it out. Listen, listen, hopefully. I think the hose weren't really, they weren't really good at turning. Okay, which I guess sort of makes sense. I don't think there was as, you know, pliable as our hoses are now. I'm wondering what they would even make it out of, though, that wouldn't be at all pliable. I mean, it could have been leather. If it was leather, it would be like.

Right. It's not. I think it was very stiff. Yeah, but you'd still be able to like. So, but I think I think it's literally like a fucking straight thing that you're trying to. If you got it wet. Right.

God damn it. Fuck me. That's just straight. The hose went floppy again. I don't understand why this happens every time. God damn it. Because of this, a second fire insurance company cropped up the Mutual Assurance Company. We ensure trees are not.

Okay. Yeah. Here we go. There we go. And insurance has started. Yep. The contribution ship started donating money to volunteer fire companies and then that fire company would respond to their insured buildings.

Okay. The buildings would be marked with the contribution ships fire mark. Fire companies would also send a bill to an uninsured householder nearby. So what? Okay. Wait. Say that again? If there was a fire.

Yeah. And there was another house nearby. Yeah. They'd build that guy. How? Don't worry about it. What do you mean? Don't worry about it.

This is what they did. They put out this house fire which saved their house. Okay. I mean, oh, wow. That's really something. It's fucking great. I mean, it's insane how quickly insurance is just becoming awful. Day one awful.

It's like, it started terrible, but now we have competitive insurance. Yeah. No. So we sent a bill to the whole city there. Yeah. And we had to charge you a look-and-see. You know what? This house almost burned down.

We stopped it. And then all the other houses in Philadelphia got built because there's wind and shit. Yeah. So you all would have been dead. Well, we got to send a bill to the guy next door to thank him, but if we didn't save that guy's house, then that house next door to him too. And then who knows where it stops. So bill's all around.

The bill just went out. Yeah. You all got to pay. So we just got you. You got to need you guys to pay. Tony will make sure you guys pay. Plus, Benji's got a lighting rod. You want us to bring that over?

Hey, it's me, Benji. That can't be Benjamin Franklin. Oh, hey. We don't know, though. We don't know. Cities funded volunteer fire companies to help. I had a big idea the other night. In the purchases of fire engines and fire hoses.

They got the money from chimney finds, bonds and taxes created for this purpose, but city governments had a hard time telling the volunteer firefighters what to do. They were unpaid, so they were pretty autonomous. Well, that's an interesting wrinkle. Volunteer firemen were respected and were the icons of masculinity and self-sacrifice during the early 1800s. Parades were held for them, they were praised in newspapers, and heroic prints were made of them.

How about some money? Five fire companies grew and grew and grew. By 1800, the federal fire company had 60 members, 120 buckets, one ladder, 60 bags, 40 baskets, one hook, and 140, 103 feet of hose. Some fire departments were just formed to protect the neighborhood. The Perseverance Hose Company was one, and each volunteer agreed to own six leather buckets and two linen bags. The bags were to hold property to keep people from stealing it during a fire.

Wait, they were to hold the property of the people's houses on fire? To prevent who from stealing it? Other people. Okay. So, part of the thing when you would go in to stop a fire would be that you would like rob it a little bit? No, you wouldn't rob it. Other people were trying to rob it.

But you would rob it before... While you were trying to put out the fire, other people were trying to steal stuff. Right. So, you would put stuff in a bag. So, one of the things you have to do before you start finding the fire is to get the valuables in a bag? Right. Okay.

In 1835, the New York newspaper wrote that the mayor had to call for the military to go to fires because so many looters would rush to the side of a fire. You don't only need a fire department. You need a military presence? I mean, we used to be Baghdad during the bombings. And things were not great between fire companies. Perfect. Why would they be?

In 1807, the Neptune Hose Company put a bell on their fire engine carriage. No, the nerve. The Liberty Hose Company was not pleased. They had been using a bell on their engine and they had patent it. Yeah. Are they patent? Liberty called it a, quote, so flagrant violation and contempt of our acknowledged rights. The Neptune Hose Company continued to use the bell, so the Liberty Company wanted to

have their own unique sound. So, they tried an instrument which produced, quote, by vibrating plates and tubes a trumpet sound. Oh boy. It sucked. It squeaked more like a cheap trumpet than the sound of a war cry that they were hoping for. Then they put a gong on the engine and hired a guy to ride on the engine and beat the gong.

There's a gong man? There was a gong man. They hired a gong man. Shouldn't you be in there helping them? No, I just hit the gong. I hit the gong. Fire coming. Gong.

But the guy was so excited about beating the gong, he hit it so hard that it cracked. Good. They bought another gong, but the sound just wasn't the same. The company thought it was just annoying, so they took it down and they went back to the bell. Nice try though. Big fires continued hit cities during the early to mid-1800s. In 1835, New York burned 20 million in damage.

In 1838, Charleston, in 1839, Mobile, Alabama lost 600 buildings, in 1845, Philadelphia lost 900, 600 in Albany in 1848, 430 in St. Louis, and 23 steamboats. In Philadelphia in 1851 again, 400 buildings. How were you expected to fight a steamboat fire? Fuck if I know. That's crazy that it got the steamboats. Yeah, okay. That's what I figured.

So this was also a white man's job. The fire department. Oh yeah. Right. For a 1818 Philadelphia Fire Association meeting, quote, the formation of fire engine and hose companies by persons of color will cause serious injury to the peace and safety of citizens in time of fire, and it is earnestly recommended to the citizens of Philadelphia to give them no support, aid, or encouragement in the formation of their companies, as there

are as many, if not more, companies already existing than are necessary at fires or properly supported. If they really wanted to do some good, they should form companies for the purpose of cleaning the gutters throughout the city by means of the hose and fire hydrants during the hot season of the year. Oh my God, that's so insulting. Horrible. Imagine telling rappers of today that back in the day, black guys couldn't have hose.

Horrible. Yeah. The Philadelphia firemen said that blacks were allowed to form their own fire organization, said that if blacks were allowed to form their own organization, white volunteers would resign and shut their engine houses down. God, what a bunch of petty little babies. Black guys wanted to start a fire fighting force and white guys said they would quit. No, we'll quit.

No, if you help them quit. Yeah, we're gonna do it when black guys can do it. No. Sorry. Sorry. Nope. I can't. Nope.

I can't do it like that. No. If they do it, then... That's not... No. That's not why I started doing it. No. Nope.

Sorry. Nope. The members of the African Fire Association met and voted to dissolve the company and apologized, saying they just wanted to make themselves useful. Well, how dare you? Oh. Oh. How fucking...

You're too little too late, honestly. I didn't mean you. Too little too late, honestly. The damage has already been done. I want to help the city. Oh. Fuck you. Oh, it almost is like you don't even want to do the job anymore.

It's like you don't want to clean the gutters that you're supposed to clean. Oh, in the hot months. In the hottest months. We offered you a position. Naturally, everyone liked to stick it to their own kind and hated those who were different. And Boston in 1836, a few fire companies were coming back from a fire. They ran into a funeral possession of Irish people. Oh, boy.

The Irish, because it was a funeral, told the fire companies to get out of the way. Interesting. The fire companies said no. Okay. And then the fight was on. I was going to say it. When you say drunk, when you say Irish funeral, you mean... They're not drunk, they're just coming from a funeral.

You mean drunk. Oh, wait. Never mind. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're as lit as one of the buildings that's on fire. The different fire companies fought as a unit, because it was against the Irish. They forced the Irish...

Let's put our bell thing aside for a minute. Okay. Yeah. Don't worry about the bells right now, boys. We got a bigger problem. The Irish. Bell etiquette goes on the back burner. They forced the Irishmen back to Broad Street where they lived.

Brick bats and stones began to fly and people were killed. Oh, my God. The Irish finally gave up. Then their houses were attacked and everything inside was smashed and destroyed. This went on for two hours. Oh, God. Finally, the military was called out to stop the battle. Several firemen were permanently injured and a lot of Irishmen were put in jail.

Some of the Irishmen were terribly wounded, but were not taken to hospitals because they would be beaten up there. Oh, my God. Look, it's just firefighting. Yeah. Sure. Exactly. Just firefighting.

One would think with... Oh, fuck. Go for it. One would think with all the fires to be put out, there would be cooperation between fire companies, but the opposite is what occurred. Some companies were made up of decent respectable men. Others were from the lower and rough classes. Horrible street battles began to break out.

They usually came as two companies raced to put out a fire or just because they now had a rivalry with another company. These rivalries grew and grew and grew over the years and others got involved. Friends of one fire company would block the way of a rival company. In New York, there was a street fight between the members of engine companies 40 and 53 as they raced for a fire downtown. The fire's burning, guys. It's pretty bad.

Fuck that. Look at Murph. Yeah, but you guys... Son of a bitch. Are you looking me in the eyes again? Is that what you're doing? Sorry. Do you guys...

Could you guys maybe help me? No, there's a fire. There's a fire. There's a fire. There's a fire. There's a fire right down the street. If you guys... Are you looking...

Are you fucking looking at me? What'd you say? I said... You're fucking engine is shit. You're fucking Bill. You're fucking shit engine. Looks like a fucking... You just have a fucking gong on ours.

You look like a potato. Gong on ours, you know. You look like a potato fire. Gong on ours. Oh, is that right? It ain't a fire. Put your fucking hands up, you piece of garbage. Guys, there's a fire.

There is a fire. An actual fire. Your job is right. Excuse me, lad. I'm talking to this... Fucking cunt over here. Your cunt yourself, you bastard. The two engines collided as they tried to push each other off the road.

So... Then one fireman punched another fireman. At that point, the fire was totally forgotten as the fireman went at each other in the street. And the fight lasted for quite some time as they often did. So that place burned down. That place burned down. Cool. Sometimes the brawls involve more than two companies.

From the Vermont Phoenix on July 19th, 1839. There was a disgraceful fireman's fight on Thursday in the upper part of New York City between the members of fire companies 2, 15 and 29 in which five persons were stabbed. Oh my god. Two of them dangerously, the other three slightly. Two of them dangerously, the other three slightly, medically speaking. So now they have created such rivalries and they hate each other so much that now they're weaponizing.

They're killing each other and they're supposed to stop disasters. And this just wasn't just restricted to big cities. In 1846, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, a fight broke out and ended with 40 homes being destroyed. What? Sorry, a fire broke out with 40 homes being destroyed. As the fire burned, rival firemen started fighting each other. Two firemen were killed and several others were wounded. From fighting?

Yeah. So you, so if you're like in this burning building. I mean it's a small city, Shippensburg at this point, so a fire breaks out and 40 homes are burning and then the firemen start killing each other. But imagine like if you're like in one of those homes and you're like, oh thank god, oh for fuck's sake, they're just being, oh they're killing each other. Go Jesus, what about the house? Get the cat, get the cat, get the goddamn cat.

God fuck. Fire departments started having goons. Goons? I just made that up because that's what they sounded like. Oh, okay. They're fucking goons. Yeah. Much like in hockey, these were guys who didn't do really anything as far as firefighting

goes but just did the brawling. Right. In 1858, the Richmond, Virginia daily dispatch wrote about Henry Jenkins, who had just been sentenced to work on a chain gang for six months. He was known as quote, a brawling member of number three hose company. Oh god. They just have guys that just fight. Yeah, and they're not like, you know, again, like, it's just, it's fucking amazing.

It was like a good idea. Like get a place to get, get mobile, get something mobile to put fires out quicker and now they're just beating the fuck out of each other. And then you go into one fire and the engines hit each other and they get mad at each other and the next fires, the next week they hit again and then they start fighting and then it never ends. Then the fucking crips and bloods and it's fucking 1989 and they're making boys in the hood.

Yeah. Yeah. The newspaper said the fire companies should just pay attention to fighting fires and get rid of the brawlers. Come on. Young men were being allowed to just hang around the firehouses and they ended up causing problems whether there was a fire or not. So they're just assholes.

The paper also wanted the companies to keep their equipment clean. Their equipment was dirty. Well the fire equipment. Oh, okay. Not their penises. No. Okay. Well, I didn't think there was any thought.

No, I didn't think their penises. Well, the fire equipment was dirty because all the, because they're fucking turning into fucking pucks. Because yeah. Okay. Yeah. I didn't think their penises was the equipment. Of course, Philadelphia was no different.

In 1844, a fire broke out in the district of Southwark. What were they doing with their penises? Those stones, brick bats and anything else they could get their hands on were used. Several teenagers from the Franklin engine and Weka Co fire hose companies were arrested. In 1846, there was a fight. This time the fight, the fight weapons used were pistols and bricks. What the fuck? Who brought bricks?

A much larger battle took place in 1850. The fights led to riots breaking out for two days across the city. I mean, don't call the fire department. What are you doing? Let them bleed out. What's she going to do? Not call them. I would not call them.

You go fuck, dude. What did I tell you? Be careful with the embers. Let's move. Well, there's a hope that one of them might show up one of them. Yeah. Dude. Yeah.

I mean, honestly, you're really rolling the dice. Like if every time like an ambulance came to your house, they just straight up robbed you and like beat the shit out of your like parents. Well, they're not robbing people. When they get there, they're putting out the fire. No, Dave, they are. They are robbing people because they're not putting out most of the fires, so most of the possessions are gone.

You don't know that. I do know that. 40 homes. In that fight in 1850, several firemen were shot. This escalation was due to Philadelphia gangs now aligning with fire companies. Oh, gosh, so it's just totally fucked. Gangs like the killers, the bouncers, the shifflers and the skinners would forge ties with their neighborhood fire brigade, quote, fights involving the fire companies were not

brief scuffles, but riots involving arson, shooting and murder. They fought to regulate who lived near them, who socialized at their pubs and taverns, and which companies served which areas. The firemen waged battles in order to control their neighborhood. They took care of their own colleges. If you hire the killers, you hire a gang called the killers, right? I mean, fighting, man, no, no, no, it ain't. It's real.

No. You know, I'm not going to lie to you. I feel like the killers are more intent on hurting people and fighting the fires. Come on. No, no, no. Get the fuck out of here. Hear me out. Hear me out.

The killers are great kids. They're great kids. Great kids. But they have been shooting a lot of people. That happens when they see the shifflers. They got a thing. It's true. The shifflers are really dislikable.

They're fucking awful, aren't they? They are a dislikable group. Put on the shirt. Take this bat. All right. Here we go. In 1949, the, oh, this is a name, Mayon Manzing Ho's company and the killers rammed a four-story hotel with a wagon full of hot tar because the half black, half white owner was living

there with his white wife. And the hotel also served racially mixed clients. So they destroyed a hotel. Well, now, so now the fire department is driving hot car hotels because they have let the black people live there. Right. So they're still not over the fact that they almost formed a fire department. The people in the hotel shot at the firemen.

Oh my God. The killers shot back. When the police arrived, the killers shot at the police until they retreated. What? I mean, don't fuck with the fire department, like you always say. Two volunteer fire companies arrived to put out the fire, but the killers put out the fire that the firemen started, but the killers and the Mayon Manzing fire company stopped them for putting out the fire.

No, this is a good fire. Get out of here. This is a good one. Both by cutting their hoses and attacking them, cutting their hoses and attacking them. The battle went on for 12 hours. Just, I mean, you didn't even call the fire department. The hotel and three adjoining buildings were destroyed. The military finally arrived to quell the situation.

Oh, cool. Right on time. Three members of the Goodwill hose fire company were killed by the killers. Sure. Shocking. No one was arrested. Anyone knew who the killers are? They're there.

Oh, that's them. They got shirts. You know, we should change our name. We should honestly think about a name change. Yeah, this was a bad one. We should think about a name change. You know what though? But we got the shirts.

We got the hats. We're in. I love the merch. I love the merch. We got the red flag when the military seems to be showing up. Doug got false deck posters made. Yeah. The killers.

It is. I mean, that's great. Look at all those little inside gags. Look at that. Look at that. Look at Hank's face. Look at Hank. Look at your face.

That's false deck. The shifters were the enemy of the Irish Catholic and Democratic Moyam and Singh hose company. Jesus. That's a fucking name. Yeah. It is a weird name. Sure. So, okay.

So the shifters are the enemies of the killers and the Irish Catholic and Democratic Moyam and Singh fire company. Okay. Right. The killers common tactic would be to set a fire. But what about in between those other gangs? Was there any? Oh, there's tons.

Okay. Great. Good. Awesome. At least it's very complicated. The killers common tactic would be to set a fire. Okay. That's the best, what, honestly.

Then they would hang back in alleys and ambush the shifters. Dave, this is the fire department. And then they would steal their engine. Like they're going to find it. That's ours. This occurred four times in the summer of 1849 and that's when the companies would not head for a fire without muskets and duck guns. Honestly, it's all, it's, look, abandon it.

It's fire fighting in early America. It's great. I can't, I just can't imagine a time where like, you're like, look out the fire department. Run for cover. The fire department's coming. Here's how a typical fire went down in New York City as described in 1865. When the fire got going, bells would ring throughout the city, which will be ringing, which would let firemen know where the fire was.

Okay. So they would ring in a way that would tell them, you know, go, or hit the gong or whatever. But this would also let all the looters and thieves know. So from all directions, firemen and criminals poured out of their houses and ran toward the flames. So it was a loot bell? Pretty much. Okay.

And these people became known as runners. They had a nick day. So hundreds of runners would rush down the sidewalks alongside the fire engine. Oh my God. The horrible news helps on the way. Oh, thank God. The criminals are here. Oh, thank God.

Put out my valuables. The runners and firemen would all shout for people to get out of the way. And sometimes the firemen shouting would lead to a fight with other firemen. Just what is happening? What is happening? Now the firemen were racing with other fire companies, which is what they were, which is so they're going as fast as possible and they're not stopping for people in the way. So that I just like grand theft auto fire department hitting people.

They're running people over. They're beating the shit out of each other. They're killing each other. There's looters running beside them. When they arrived at the fire, they generally did nothing as it was too far gone. They just wait for the structure to burn down. If they did decide to put out the fire, that's all they would do. And as they, because they did that, people would run in and steal property from the house.

So if they let it burn, that was it. All the valuables gone. But if they put it out, then everyone would run in and steal everything. So either way, you lost everything. You lost everything. But this, at this point, wait, the firemen did not consider their duty to stop the looters because they thought it was beneath them. Okay, go ahead.

You know, I don't even want to go ahead, honestly. Like how is it even still a thing? How did, who's fun? How is it still happen? How are people like, okay, this works. Good to go. I don't want to get there. The stealing and damage from water caused high insurance rates.

Oh, God. Oh, God. Well, your insurance is going to go up. I know you've lost everything because the fire department had gang warfare on your front lawn. Wait. So insurance companies started paying and organizing companies to go to the fires and grab as much property as possible.

Okay. So the insurance company is hiring. So wait, so there's a fire, there's a fire bell and the firemen run. The looters run. The looters run. But now. And now. Insurance looters run.

Insurance looters run to get to this time. So just looters with ties. Run away. Then they would save the property. They are there to loot on behalf of a company. You know, I don't know, I don't know who we root for. Well, but it wasn't just the criminals stealing. Firemen began to be known for having a go themselves.

After a fire at a music store in Fulton Street, for blocks around, firemen were found blowing trumpets and playing instruments as they, that they had lifted. They also, they were also known to head into any liquor store that was close to a fire and just grab booze. Oh, I mean, what, if you, if you own a liquor store, what, pardon me, there's a fire up the Fulton Street. Yeah, excuse me. So you don't need all the whiskey.

No, no, no, no, no. You don't need all the whiskey. Hey, there's a fire. Okay. We're taking care of it. We're going to need the brown stuff. Good. Good.

Yeah. Top shelf. Thank you. Can I just say that you guys are the fucking worst. Hey. Hey. Yeah. Do you want a fireman?

Is that what you're asking for? Here, take all the brown liquor. Do you want, look me in the face. Look me in the fucking eye. No. I'm a fireman. I know. Hey, do you want a fire in your fucking shop?

I don't want any trouble. I'm sorry. So let's have the liquor then. We've got a fire up the street. Thanks for your service, guys. You fucking son of a bitch. This one's showing me a lack of respect in there. Oh boy.

I could have done without that son of a bitch part. No one dared to say anything as they grabbed the booze. By all means. So people started to believe that all the bullshit associated with firemen might not happen if they were paid. There we go. Maybe being a volunteer fireman was part of the problem. You know, now that we're talking about it, it does kind of make a little bit of sense.

Hold on. I'll just stop you right there. Free market economy. Yeah. No, it's true. True. Yeah. This is pure free market economy.

It works. The firehouses themselves created a place for, shall I say, losers to gather. They lived in bunk houses. Over 1,000 men in New York were said to be living in firehouses with no other residents, and they had no other job, even though the job was voluntary. So they were just becoming firemen to have a place to stay, and in a lot of cases to enjoy the life of excitement and debauchery and crime. Yeah, crime.

I mean, really to make money off of being a fireman since you don't get paid. Yeah. Being firemen, remember when they were throwing them parades? Yeah, that was fun. It went from being an honored, respected job to being scorned and a job that not many wanted. Merchants and businessmen no longer wanted to join the volunteer fire departments. Men felt that just by joining, they were lowering themselves. With that meant that only the lower, shittiest, scummiest fucking dirtbags in the world would

be firemen. So you can see how this is kind of creating a situation. Yeah, it's a syndrome. In 1857, firefighters in Philadelphia began using the steam engine. This was a big deal. They were not alone. New Orleans, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, and other large cities were now using steam fire engines.

Originally, the firemen were opposed, but they came to believe it to be a great asset for putting out fires. Well, that doesn't sound like something the fire department needed. Okay. In 1858, Philadelphia firemen brought the steam engine to New York for a public display. As the firemen of Philadelphia prepared the steam engine, a fire broke out. Oh, boy. I'm nervous.

The mayor asked them to test the steam engine on the fire. But when they arrived, they found the New York firemen trying to stop them from putting out the fire. Oh, God. Jesus Christ. They couldn't get close enough because of all the obstacles the New York firemen were putting in their way. It's like cabs and Uber.

It's totally cabs and Uber. It's totally. But they're all there, but it's worse. They finally got close enough. They finally got close enough. Thanks fire department for letting us get close enough. But the force of the water burst their hose. The New York firemen cheered as the fire raged on.

Wow. Wow. The Philadelphia firemen quickly repaired their hose, fired up the steam engine, and hit the fire with a great amount of water. The men of engine 31 turned their hoses on the Philadelphia firemen. I mean, wow. You're going to put out the firemen? Finally the fire was put out with a great help from the steam engine.

Yeah. Not from the New York fire department. As much as the firemen didn't want the steam engine in New York, they were going to lose the battle. Because the money guys wanted it, the insurance companies wanted the steam engine. They were the ones who gave most of the money to the volunteer fire brigades. And municipal governments just gave a little bit of support compared to the insurance company. And sure enough, steam engines undermined the volunteer firefighters.

Yes. Fewer men were needed to run a steam engine than a hand pump engine. Fewer murderers. Yeah. And the steam engine required smarter guys to keep it running. Right? Damn it. I've got to look now.

Now we need not idiots. Now we've got to look for someone. This meant that cities started moving away from volunteers and toured paid city firefighters. St. Louis did this in 1857, Baltimore in 1858, Philadelphia in 1860, San Francisco in 1866. New York Times, February, March 1865. The experience of other cities proves conclusively that paid firemen do their work better than volunteers. That fewer fires occur under their management, that they cost less, and that they do no damage

to the public morals. Imagine. What a world. Like Yakov Shmirnov should be there, wow that's an idea. In 1865 the volunteer fire department in New York was done. And a paid fire service was started and that continues until today. Eventually, most fire departments in the U.S. became municipal fire departments. Most changes to the fire code came from insurance companies.

By 1900, the National Board of Fire Underwriters was so powerful that it created the standards of fire protection and prevention in America's cities. But as we all know, America loves to ignore history. No. Fuck wait, it didn't pull up the rest of this. Yeah. Okay, there it is. America loves to ignore history and turn back the clock.

In 2010, firefighters sat and watched a man's home burn in Tennessee because he had not paid a $75 municipal fee. I was just going to mention that at some point because that is a thing now, right? It's coming back. They did save the home of the man living next door who did pay his fee. The same thing happened a year later. Expect this to happen more in the U.S. as more and more cities' taxpayers push to stop taxes and go to a fee-based system because we are fucking idiots.

So they don't, so okay, but that is based on people pay, like if you don't pay your insurance, the fire department who are supposed to be basically like doctors, like they're just put there to save bad situations, they won't do it now because they're in the pocket of a business instead. So they show up and if you don't have a mark on your house or if they have a computer thing that says, oh, not that address. Sorry, bro. Got your debit card?

What do you got? You can, in one town, if they get there and you haven't paid your municipal fee, you can pay, I think it's $2,900 an hour to have them fight your fire. What the fuck? Instead of just saying, we'll put it out, pay us. Now the guy whose house burned down, he just didn't know, like somehow there was a mix up with his mail. He just didn't know he was supposed to pay it because it was house burned down.

And that's it. He loses his house. And this is happening in different places in America because just cons don't want to pay their tiny bit of taxes that would go to a fire department. You don't want to pay your fire department taxes because you don't give a flying fuck about anybody but yourself. You know my house burned down. What?

Yeah. When I was like 14 or 15, probably 15, my house burned down. Madison? Milwaukee, Brown Deer. And it was... How did it start? It's actually, the story is fucking crazy because what happened was my... And when I say burned down, I mean like a lot of it got damaged or destroyed.

It was livable within like a month or something. You could live there and then it got redone. But you lose tons of shit and I'm like whatever, other sad stuff. But so what basically happened was in Wisconsin it gets very, very fucking cold. And it was winter and we used to light fires. We always used to light fires in the fireplace. By the way, when my house burned down, like it made the news and as soon as everybody heard, the first thing they thought was that I fell asleep with a cigarette in my hand.

Everybody. You were 15? Yeah. Jesus Christ. It was a dark time. So... Jesus, if it was 200 years earlier you would have been on the fire department. Seriously.

Yeah, I would have been there right with the killers like let's get them boys. But I was 16 when it burned down now that I remember it. So what happened was, you know, we had a fire the night before. The next day probably 13 hours later, 14 hours later, maybe even more. My mother cleaned the ash from the fireplace, put it in a paper bag. This is how so many fires start. Put it in a paper bag and went and put it out in the garbage. She used to walk like...

Outside? Outside. But we had, but our garbage was under like a little car port. So there was almost like a little cover for where you would put your cars. So basically what happened was she went and did that and she used to walk like 15 miles a day with our dogs. And so she went out on a walk. And as she's coming back, the fire department's all around and what happened was somebody

driving by saw what happened, which was that the garbage caught on fire. It like melted. All the garbage is started to catch on fire. Small fire started, but then the car, which was under the car port caught on fire and the car blew up and took the car port and then just the house got engulfed in fucking flames. And it's funny because when you're talking about, and somebody driving by called 911, but when you're talking about like the valuable situation, one of the things that was really

startling to me was it almost looked at times like they just enjoyed throwing shit out of the way. I think that's got to be pretty fun. Yeah. It's almost like you can do whatever the fuck you want, but like I remember. When you go into the fire, there are no valuables. You just want to stop the fire, which is totally understandable. But it was like, didn't the TV have to get thrown through the TV?

Yeah. Yeah. And then the best part is, like I said, I was a little bit of a hellraiser. So I go into school the next day and I like I smoked, you know, so I smoked a cigarette on my way to school and wasn't even staying in my place at the time. And the teacher I walked in, I was like five minutes late and she's like, late. So you smell like cigarette smoke. And I just sat down and I was like, my fucking house burned down last night.

And she was like, I am so sorry. You were such a shithead. Wow. Yeah. You really were a motherfucker. Yeah. But uh. Son of a bitch.

But yeah, those fire department guys, what a bunch of assholes, huh? That story is fucking crazy though. Oh God. I would love to. I would love to travel in time. The power of payment. That's something I want to travel in time to see. Yeah.

Dave, you would have been a great one. Just stand on a roof. Go. But let's be honest. You always do talk about like the climate of the, you know, just the culture, you know, it makes you do things like, like, would you be, would you be racist and own slaves if you were around in these times? I think you in this time would easily have been one of these easily have been a firefighter

and it easily, easily been an asshole. I mean, that are a cop. Yeah. Totally. I'd be, I'd be someone to just be like, and that fucking dude stole all my candles. Say it to my face. No. You call me Gary back then.

Well, I have my bag of candles. What'd you say, Gary? Gary. Yeah. Yeah. What? What? Okay.

Come on. We got a fire to put out, boys. Motherfuckers. Motherfuckers. Yeah. If you want to donate, go to Patreon, give us a little donation on the dollop page. We are on Facebook at the dollop. That's where you can get a lot of information about stuff, by the way, shows coming up, stuff

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