Table of Contents

Chapter 1:      Antonio Alonzo (A.A.) Rozetta
Chapter 2:      Rozetta's Men
Chapter 3:      Firemen Without Borders
Chapter 4:      Salaries, Losses and Budget
Chapter 5:      Clear and Present Danger
Chapter 6:      The Double-Platoon System
Chapter 7:      Preparation and Prevention
Chapter 8:      Tools of the Trade
Chapter 9:      A National Perspective
Chapter 10:    Fire Alarms
Chapter 11:    Nashville in Flames
Chapter 12:    The Conflagration of 1916
Chapter 13:    "Chief Rozetta" (fire truck)
Chapter 14:    Photo Gallery

                Excerpts 

     "Possibly no other fire official in the United States ever gained more prominence, or was better fitted to guard a city from the ravages of flames, than was Chief Rozetta," wrote the reporter of an article entitled "Last Call for Chief Rozetta." The story was published July 22, 1920 -- the day after his death -- in the "Nashville Banner."
     Rozetta served as Nashville's chief from 1900 to 1920. The large number of mourners who came to pay their final respects as his casket lay at the Tennessee State Capitol exemplified the tremendous love and respect he'd earned during his 36-year career: not only from city residents but a grateful nation." [Chapter One]


     Rozetta's "sphere of duty" in 1900 included a fire area of 7,136 acres in "one of the most important business cities in the South, whose ever-increasing population looks to him and his men as their preservers from loss, in case a fire should break out. The department consists of eighty members paid full-time and well-equipped with apparatus. The daily water supply from the Cumberland River is 30,000 gallons with nearly 600 hydrants of the most modern type."  -- Fire and Water Magazine July 20, 1901

 
     In 1901, the city of Chicago was, as usual, a hotbed of activity. According to the June 20, 1901 edition of "Fire and Water," there were no less than 1,661 fires of "suspicious origin" in Chicago. Of that number, "fourteen were known to be of incendiary origin; fifty two suspected incendiary; fifty suspicious; and 1,542 whose cause is returned by the fire insurance patrol as 'unknown.'"
     The result was the formation of a fund by the Chicago Underwriter's Associationi "for the prosecution of arson cases and for reward to be offered under certain conditions for the detection of firebugs." The author concluded with a bit of advice for the city of New York. "A similar method might profitably be adapted in Greater New York, where a recrudescence of the incendiarism of some six year seems more then threatened." [Chapter Nine]

  
     In 1912, Nashville's firefighters were paid 12 cents an hour."To draw his full pay, he must be on dutry twenty-four hours. Should he leave the fire hall for three hours, for instance, to go to church or an entertainment, he will be docked for that time." [Chapter Four]


     The 1919 "Fearless Club" souvenir program distrubted at the 44th Annual International Association of Fire Engineer's conference in Providence, Rhode Island, included an article by the city's Fire Chief Reuben D. Weekes.
    "Providence is probably the only city in the country of any size that uses the Lowery hydrants exclusively, there being no post hydrant service in the city. The Lowery hydrant is flush with the sidewalk and to take the place of the post hydrant head or 'chuck.' All hose wagons carry 6-port chucks, while the steamers carry 4-port chucks." [Chapter Nine]


     Nashville's most vicious and devastating fire occured in the spring of 1916. Before it was over, it would burn a path approximately two miles long and one-two blocks wide: leaving a decimated and smoldering East Side in its wake. The source of the 64-acre fire, according to newspapers, was a planning mill at 214 North First Street.
     Printed in large, block letters across the frong page of the March 22, 1916 afternoon edition of the "Nashville Banner" were the words: "OVER THREE HUNDRED HOMES DESTROYED BY GREAT FIRE."
     For the price of two-cents, Nashville residents could read about the horrific morning blaze that destroyed and damaged hundreds of homes, along with the Edgefield Baptist Church, Woodland Street Presbyterian Church, St. Columba's Church and School, Warner School and Little Sisters of the Poor." [Chapter 12]

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Fire Prevention Tips in 1919

The following tips were included in a "Nashville Banner" article written by Chief A.A. Rozetta:

Don't allow children to play with matches.

Don't block fire escapes, you may need them yourself tonight.

Don't leave everything to the landlord; inspect your own house from cellar to garret and locate all exits.

Don't go into dark closets, bedrooms or cellars using matches or candles to light your way.

Don't use kerosene, benzene or naphtha in lighting a fire, or to qucken a slow fire. It may result in death.

Don't use gasoline or benzene to clean clothing near an open flame, light or fire.

Don't fill any lamp with gasoline, kerosene or other oils while the lamp is lighted. Keep the burners of all oil lamps thoroughly clean.

Don't fill kerosene lamps after dark or within 15 feet of the light of a fire.

Don't put ashes in wooden boxes or barrels. Keep ashes away from boards.

Don't use candles on Christmas trees.

Don't keep matches in anything but a closed, metal receptacle.

Don't have storage closets under stairways or near dumb-waiter shafts. Fires in these places cut off your main exit.