Firehouse Mice

& the Best Job in the World

The weather is getting colder & the little critters (field mice) are looking for new digs. Back when we had grills, they would sometimes winter inside them. But after the kids moved away, we got rid of the grills. Not that we used them much. Grills are for outdoor cooking in the summer w/dad acting as grill master. Problem is I would have to stand outside in the summer heat cooking over a hot grill. Heat + MS = bad outcome. W/o a grill to winter in, the field mice chose to come inside. Spent the past few days battling it out w/a family of field mice (field mice are brown, house mice are gray). All those firehouse skills I learned were put to the test.

Even though mice were around us all in Newark firehouses, I only have one mention of them in my interviews. BC Ron Ricca shared it w/me.

Ray Frost was deathly afraid of rats, mice. He’d run into a burning building w/o a thought, but he didn’t like mice. They found a rat one day, dead, tied a knot in its tail; tied it to his locker on the coat rack part, the coat pole. That didn’t go over too great. Then one day they must have caught about ten mice & put them in the coffee can. So, I came in first & I go to open the can, but I said, “These guys always clean the kitchen & make coffee. Something’s up.” And I put my hand on the lid & “tip, tip.” I look in. There’re the mice jumping up. Well, Ray walks in. He opens it up & it was like a carnival snake coming out of that thing. He screamed. He jumped up on the bench. It was nuts.

This brought back a memory of Six Engine battling it out w/a mouse on Springfield Avenue. It was the early 80s on a night where no one went upstairs because it was too busy. We were in the kitchen talking. John Kraemer was our captain & Chief Grehl was the Deputy. The chief was sitting on corner seat that looked like it belonged in an ice cream parlor (firehouse furniture back then was “unusual” at times). A mouse ran across the kitchen floor & parked itself under a radiator along the wall by the parking lot. Everyone saw it, so we sprang into action.

Kevin Killeen ran out to the rig to get the CO2 extinguisher. Scott Gerow & Frank Bellina took up positions to prevent the mouse from making a desperate dash back across the kitchen. I stood between the radiator & the back door to cut off that route. Chief Grehl sat in his seat laughing.

Kevin came back in w/the extinguisher & set up where Frank & Scott had been standing. We then discussed strategies for forcing the rodent out into the open. It was decided I would shake a large game board tucked in between the radiator & the wall. Kevin would intercept the mouse, hitting it w/the CO2. I rattled the board, the mouse panicked & made a run for it. It was greeted with a cloud of CO2. When the cloud dissipated, a little grey mouse was lying on the floor shivering. By now the chief was laughing so hard I was afraid he would slip off the seat (it was covered w/a sky blue slippery vinyl material).

We quickly decided to drop the mouse into a bucket & drown it. Scott scooped up the mouse, took the bucket to the apparatus floor, and I began to fill it w/ water. Only problem was when the water hit the mouse it thawed out & began to swim. I looked at Scott. He looked at me & said, “I can’t do this.” After a quick company conference, it was decided that on our next run we’d take the bucket to a vacant lot, toss the mouse out, and let nature take its course. We had handled the mouse the same way we handled a fire, as a team.

At the time, we were a young company (firefighters in our 20s). John Kraemer was our captain (in his 30s). There wasn’t a lot to do between alarms at 03:00 hours. The mouse ended up in a lot off Bergen Street on the next run. Chief Grehl retired shortly after. When I interviewed him, one of the comments he made was he liked to go down to the beach (he lived in Manasquan at the time) & watch the young kids play volley ball even though he couldn’t anymore. I think he also got a kick out of the wacko kids he worked with.

Looking back, I have to admit it was a crazy time to be in the firehouse. We weren’t as wacky as some of the other companies we worked with. Having a deputy in the house does put a lid on things. But at a fire the entire team was focused on the job. When the bell hit, the crazies stopped. That’s what made the job the best in the world.