 Early
in 1941 the RCAF recruited a professional from civvy street to take over as
the RCAF Fire Marshal at Air Force Headquarters. A sales manager from a firm
selling fire equipment got the nod for the task. His name was Ritchie and he was
granted a short service commission as Squadron Leader, he filled the role until
wars end. Having been in the selling business as a sales manager it seemed that
his company was favored with a lot of needed purchases of "First Aid"
fire equipment. S/L Ritchie had a small staff to work with, he also was
instrumental in having Firefighters commissioned to serve as Command Fire
Prevention Officers (CFPOs). These Officers were selected from those
professionals who had signed on as Firefighters and were among the first Senior
NCOs in the trade. Their tasks were to establish a round of visitations to each
Fire Department within their Command, buildings were to be inspected, fire
equipment tested, drill alarms conducted, discussions with the Fire Department
staffs and he had to have a meeting with the Fire Prevention Committee at each
Station as well as a debriefing of the Commanding Officer prior to leaving the
Station.
By John Cowell, Flight Lieutenant, Retired (Deceased)
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The drill
alarms could sometimes be of considerable value while others could be a
catastrophe, one such occeuued at RCAF Station Trenton where a smoke bomb was
placed in a barrack block dormitory, the Fire Crew arrived and went charging
into the room with their leader lines charged and ready for action. They found
the room filled with smoke and commenced to spray water around. Needless to say
a lot of Airmen had wet beds and clothes and this particular CFPO got raked over
the coals and never held another such drill alarm. Some of the names that come
to mind as being commissioned CFPOs are; Beazer; Bisho; Jenkins; Red Jones; Tom
Matthews and Roy Scharfe. Station establishments were set at a standard
depending on the size and activity involved. All Service Flying Training Schools
had a Flight Sergeant Fire Chief with a Sergeant as his Deputy. Each crew was
headed up by a Corporal Crew Chief, he would have 6 or 7 AC2s; AC1s; and /or
LACs under him to round out the 7 or 8 man shift. These crews worked a 24 hours
on duty and a 24 hours off duty, there was no such thing as a 48 hour pass. If
you wanted extra time off you had to make arrangements for a replacement, in
that way you could get 3 days off in a row and by the same token you would have
to work for your replacement and thus be working 3 days in a row. Annual leave
was a privilege and would be granted IF manpower was available.