Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Impressions of the Winter Park Fire Department

Visiting the Winter Park Fire Station was a very interesting field trip. Even though Professor Chambliss had mentioned in class that we should not expect it to look like any other fire department or the fire departments we probably all have seen in different movies, I was surprised by the appearance of the Winter Park Fire Station. It is quite an impressive and big building. The talk of the fire chief was very informative and I think he did a very good job at giving us an overview of the history of firefighting. I had know about certain aspects of the history of fire fighting, for example that it started as somewhat of a grass roots movement and the early firefighters were not full time employees but rather volunteering locals. However, I did not know that Benjamin Franklin was the first person to establish a fire station in Philadelphia. Neither was I aware of the fact that the first ambulances generally were hearses – a fact that honestly freaked me out a little. Knowing much more about the story of the development of emergency response teams (fires, medical emergencies, accidents and so on), I feel much more excited to help them with digitizing their archives than before.

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