The Firehouse Grapevine

Back when Claude Coleman was Director, he made a comment to DC Puffy Freda about the firehouse grapevine. He was amazed at how efficient it was at spreading news & rumors. Some of you might remember a short-lived newsletter that the Academy put out back in 1986-87. It died a horrible death after a few issues because the powers that be didn’t always like what was printed. The title of the newsletter was The Official Newark Fire Department Grapevine. What does all of that have to do w/the news article & picture accompanying this post?

Well, it goes like this. I was straightening out/cleaning out a desk drawer when I came on the article. The date was cut off, but it was in October of 2002. A delegation from Newark’s sister city in China, Xuzhou (徐州)

came for a visit. The Academy was given the task of ferrying them around the city in one of our vans. BC Tony Connell mentioned to Pam Goldstein of the Public Information Office that he knew a fire captain who spoke Chinese. I was immediately asked to direct the Academy effort of transportation & help the mayor communicate w/his guests. The host for the evening was a wealthy business man w/offices in Newark & interests in China.

We went on a tour of a few places around the city & had dinner at a restaurant. The mayor was at his best, talking up a storm. The delegation translator was phenomenal, not missing a beat. I had very little to do until the mayor wanted to introduce the business man. Then he needed to be able to say, "This guy’s got a lot of money." in Chinese. That was my challenge for the night, other than telling the guys driving the vans where we were going. About half way through the evening, the mayor wanted to say that the delegation was welcome. To do this he reverted to the only bit of a foreign language he knew, Spanish, and told them, “Mi Casa, es tu casa” (My house is your house.), w/o asking me how to say it in Chinese. The rest of the night was uneventful.

The story didn’t take long to get around the Fire Department grapevine. The following morning, I began fielding phone calls from guys in the firehouse. Did the mayor really speak to the Chinese delegation in Spanish? “Yes, but he was lucky,” I explained, “The delegation translator also spoke Spanish.” I heard “Unbelievable” often, but what would be unbelievable to most was how quickly & accurately the story got around the fire department. Like they say “telegraph, telephone, tell a fireman.”