Indigenous Ability

Fighting, to a firefighter in the early US was literal in two senses of the word. A)   You fought fires and… B)    You were often a fighter expected to literally “fight” other human beings at the scene of the conflagration. Let’s turn back the clock to early America when practically all dwellings were made of wood, patched with pitch, illuminated with open flames or rickety vessels of coal oil.  Let’s add cigarettes and cigars and pipes and a lucifer [striking match] in most every hand.  Let’s add open flames being the primary source of warmth. With all of these additions I think we might see just how dangerous early incarnations of the firefighting job were. Now about that fighting other humans bit of the early job description. Let’s have a look at the why. In the early days of the firefighting game the “fire departments” were, shall we say, competitive. They earned according to the number of fires doused. This quot...

                                                                        "Big Jim" In the grand ol’ crazy days of New York, competitive fire mustering was a thing. Essentially it was whoever could get to a fire first would win the contract. Fires were frequent [as was a bit of serendipitous arson] and the competitions were not friendly. Many fire departments recruited from less than savory elements to give the upper hand in jockeying for superior mustering position. One such element was Jim Jeroloman, AKA “Big Jim.” Big Jim was a 6’4” shipbuilder and boxer with earrings that dangled to shoulders—which he removed for musters. Although a big man with what are described as heavy hands, he still relied on other tools of the rough and tumble trade—he was a noted biter. Post one scuffle,...