Firefighter bridges time

(ed. - I don't know who this guy is, but I like his style. Support your tiny super-firefighters.)

During the first few decades of firefighting services in Roanoke, firefighters such as Howard Dowdy drove and washed the horses that pulled fire wagons.

More than a century later, Dowdy's grandson, Bev Mitchell, would drive and wash the gray, and later red, fire engines.

"I imagine we respond a whole lot quicker now than we did then," Mitchell said, chuckling.

The evolution of the department, from an all-volunteer organization in 1882 to the Fire-EMS department in 1995, is documented in a new book, "Firefighting in Roanoke."

The book, compiled by Roanoke firefighter Lt. Rhett Fleitz, includes more than 200 pictures that illustrate the changes in Roanoke's firefighting services, which began almost 125 years ago.

Much of the information in the book is from news clippings and photos that Capt. Maurice Wiseman of the Roanoke Fire Department collected in his lifetime.

After Wiseman's death in 2001, his family gave the boxes of papers and binders to the local firefighter's union.

Fleitz and firefighter Travis Collins used some of the information for "The Maurice Wiseman Project," a Web page with pictures and a time line of fire services in Roanoke. The project can be accessed through the union's Web site, www.local1132.org.

More here, where the article lies.