Reminiscences of the old fire laddies and volunteer fire departments of New York and Brooklyn. . e company which Foreman Sullivan commands is one of thehardest worked in the Department, and they are generally termedthe wreckers, from the fact that at all large fires they are invariablycalled upon to do the heaviest kind of work, and remain to finish upamong the debris of the destroyed building. John Binns, who in 1885 was presented by Mayor Grace withthe Bennett Medal for bravery in saving life at the St. Georges flatfire, is in his twenty-eighth year. He has a pleasant, open counte-nance, and
Reminiscences of the old fire laddies and volunteer fire departments of New York and Brooklyn. . e company which Foreman Sullivan commands is one of thehardest worked in the Department, and they are generally termedthe wreckers, from the fact that at all large fires they are invariablycalled upon to do the heaviest kind of work, and remain to finish upamong the debris of the destroyed building. John Binns, who in 1885 was presented by Mayor Grace withthe Bennett Medal for bravery in saving life at the St. Georges flatfire, is in his twenty-eighth year. He has a pleasant, open counte-nance, and is compactly built. He was appointed a fireman March22, 1882, and served with Hook and Ladder 4, Engine 7, and Hookand Ladder 3, to which latter company he was attached at the timeof making the rescue, for which he was promoted on May 20, 1884,to the rank of assistant foreman and assigned to Hook and Ladder9. He was subsequently transferred to Hook and Ladder 6, and onAugust 16 last was promoted to be foreman of Engine 32, in JohnStreet, where he has since remained. Foreman Binns was one of. In 1865 he was elected by thegeneral vote of the Departmentas an assistant engineer. T. L. Maxwell. On the organization of thepresent paid Department, in1865, he became the chief ofbattalion, in which position heearned a high reputation as afireman. In 1873 the Repub-lican Legislature passed an actlegislating all the chiefs of bat-talions out of office, which in-cluded Foreman Sullivan. Hewas re-appointed a foreman andassigned to Hook and Ladder11, on August 23, 1884, wherehe has since remained. the first to volunteer in the Life Saving Corps on its organizationa short time ago, and proved an apt pupil. The district whichEngine 32 covers is one of the most important in the city, embracingwithin its precinct numerous warehouses, hotels, high buildings,paint, oil, drug, and coffee-houses. Since Foreman Binns tookcommand of the company its services have been warmly recognizedby the merchants
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