During the 1951-1952 fiscal year the San Diego Fire Department, under Chief George E. Courser, answered 3,345 alarms, or an average of 123 alarms for each piece of fire apparatus. Only 45% of the alarms required pumper operation and the average time apparatus was in service was 30.8 minutes. In this article Battalion Chief Ely discusses some of the maintenance procedures used by his department to assure proper starting and operation of all apparatus for the rugged performance required by fire duty.
