Word: firemen
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...some 400 of the city's 4,300 firemen walked off the job, the first such strike in the city's history. They set up picket lines in front of the 120 fire stations and closed down more than half. When the mayor fought back by asking for recruits, 677 signed up for duty, lured by a starting annual salary of $16,524. In addition, the city pressed into service scores of city sanitation workers to help in emergencies. The new people got only two days of instruction before taking their posts at the stations, amid the jeers...
Despite the makeshift system, none of the average 150 alarms a day went unanswered. Fire trucks from some closed stations were consolidated with rigs at the open firehouses. Experienced chiefs, captains and other veteran nonstriking firemen supervised each task force. Police sped to the scene of fire alarms, canceling the call if it was false. On the site, the recruits usually hauled hoses while nonstriking veterans entered buildings to do the more dangerous work...
Even the most tragic incident during the strike might not have been averted if all hands had been on duty. When a house just half a block from a closed fire station began to burn, picketing firemen ran to the scene within seconds and helped two police officers lead people to safety. Working firemen from another station arrived within eight minutes. But an explosion sent flames into the top floor and kept rescuers at bay. The bodies of Santana Jackson, 2, and her brother Tommie, 1, were later found in the rubble...
...week's end Mayor Byrne and the firemen's union had not resolved their dispute. The jailing of the union's president, Frank Muscare, for failing to obey a back-to-work order outraged firemen, but most were eager to return to work and the union began to soften its demands. Meanwhile, Chicago was making do. The number of blazes was running slightly below average, and only three people had died from fires in the 17 days, no more than the normal rate. Said one striking fireman of the city's fortunate residents: "Mayor Daley must...
...earth, the next it was an amiable litter of vacancy signs. One moment it was the riveting center of the media's eldritch universe; the next it was just another out-of-the-way resort more or less waiting for next summer's convention of volunteer firemen...