THE BOYS CLUB

In 1973 the citizens in San Jose, CA, rightly voted to add a forth fireman to its 28 engines and a fifth to its 7 trucks. At that time, before the computer boom, San Jose was a city going from a small agricultural town with wonderful orchards and flower growers to a major population expansion and industrial boom. I had taken tests all over the Bay Area and had only been to San Jose once before I put in my application. By adding the extra people, I was placed in the right place at the right time.

I moved to San Francisco in 1970, having grown up in Chicago. My only experience with the fire service was getting a firemanship merit badge and watching an engine company assist the Chicago PD remove a deranged guy with a knife from a two-story ledge. They used a 2 1/2 straight stream to pin him to the wall while the P.D. subdued him the way they did back then. Different time, the 50s.

I started testing late (28 years old) after a friend got on with Oakland. When he told me about the job something clicked and I knew. Back then the competition was tough as it is now. About 2,500 took the written and 1,500 made it to the physical, which dropped another 50%. About 500 made the list after orals and backgrounds. I had been out of the Army over 5 years so did not get veteran's points so it took about a year to get hired. Most of the guys on the job were veterans and most on my list also had service time. We were used to taking orders so a paramilitary life was no biggie.

After the academy, I was assigned to Station 10 which housed a truck and engine. That was four rigs as the truck had a "light unit" and the engine a "hose wagon." EMS calls were few and far between and were taken by the least valuable rig(light unit) and the two least senior fire persons: engineer and fireman. Being a probie at Station 10 was not for the fainthearted. Being put in the dumpster or locked in the mop closet and doing all the slime jobs was part of training. One night we had two apartment dumpster fires that required sprinkler heads to be wedged while standing in the dumpster. It took weeks for my turnouts to dry.
More to come soon...