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Thanks to retired Tiburon Fire Protection District Captain Larry Bogel for this weeks contribution to the Marin Fire History Project, telling the story of his career and how it came to be. In this case, how he got out of the house as a young man, and eventually found a career he loved. This is the second story about "sleeper" programs at our fire departments, in this case at Tiburon. Thanks also to Larry for sharing his robust collection of fire service photos and newspaper articles - we are scanning to use as resources for many future features. We've started adding sub-pages to the main residential firefighter program page, under our "more" menu. We hope that any other fire department who have had a sleeper program at some point in their history will follow Larry's lead and share some stories and images. We are more than open to any written contributions to all areas of this project, contact Tom Forster @ [email protected] with any submittal questions. We are especially interested in biographies, and are slowly building a long list of names to profile as best we can. Remember our original purpose, "Never Forget? We forgot, but are now remembering, preserving, and sharing history."  Larry Bogel on far left at Fort Rucker in Alabama, in 1966. Let's take a closer look at an example of fireworks causing serious fires in Marin County. The earliest example we know of so far happened in Sausalito 124 years ago on, of course, the 4th of July. In this case funds for an Independence Day fireworks display were raised by the owner of a hotel named the El Monte. Contributors included members of the community who wanted to see a good fireworks display on the 4th of July. It was reported that several hundred dollars were raised, or more than $7,000 today. To put that into perspective, remember in our last blog and story about the fireworks in Corte Madera, that they only spent a few hundred dollars in the early 1950's, and even by the early 1970's only $1,500 for huge displays. So, we know the El Monte put on quite a show that night. Unfortunately once the show was underway, a nearby business downhill, a saloon and lodging structure called "The Hunters Resort", caught on fire, and the flames eventually spread to many other structures. With no fire department other than the start of organizing volunteers, and no fire equipment, along with a limited water supply, the fire burned unchecked for some time. Eventually a fire tug boat from the San Francisco FD arrived to help, and at some point the fire "got tired" and went out. The proprietor of the El Monte Hotel, Colonel J.E. Slinkey, denied his fireworks caused the fire, and of course with no fire department there were no fire investigators. At that time the San Rafael Volunteer Fire Department was the only FD in existence in Marin. The good news is that this fire led both to the incorporation of Sausalito starting that same year, and to the creation of the Sausalito Fire Department. Read about this fire by clicking the button below, and also visit the Sausalito FD page under the Departments>Former>Sausalito FD menus.  The obvious link between fire departments and fireworks today are in two areas. First, the enforcement of fireworks prohibitions, and secondly, dealing with some of the consequences that can include injuries and fires. In Marin County fire service history, there is also an unusual story of a partnership between the community, business, and a local fire department for over 15 years. A large fireworks display on Independence Day, the 4th of July, was performed for both entertainment, and to discourage individual neighborhood displays. This year the evening news on July 4th featured huge fireworks going off around bay area cities like Oakland and San Jose. While this was spectacular in many cases, the problem was most were illegally being set off, with enforcement stretched thin due to the huge geographic area involved. To the north of Marin, four cities in Sonoma County including Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Cloverdale, and Sebastopol featured "Safe and Sane" fireworks sales and neighborhood displays. The rest of Sonoma County prohibited all sale and use of fireworks. Read this week's feature story on how some members of the Corte Madera Volunteer Fire Department became licensed pyrotechnicians, and orchestrated huge displays that attracted tens of thousands of people for 14 years, starting in 1953. Learn what motivated the displays, and why they ended in the 1970's.  |
AuthorOur Blog announces new site content, and gives the context of the topic and it's relationship to fire service history. Written by Bill Lellis & Paul Smith Archives
August 2022
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