Stillman Fires Collection: FDNY Chief Kenlons Ride (1927)

★★★ · "bad traffic-jams force the use of sidewalks" · uniQ · 2011-04-21

This film seems to suggest much more "modern" practices. In this case, the fire chief's car is shown racing through traffic, down sidewalks (!) to get to the scene of a fire. One scene is taken from a car in front and looks for all the world like one of those high speed car chases! Watch for the dude who doesn't see the car untill it's on top of him!

★★★ · (does not star Leslie Nielsen) · Spuzz · 2004-01-05

The first 4 minutes of this film is amazing, as we see a fire chief's voyage to a fire. The camera is attached to the hood of the car, as he carouses through traffic, when that's too heavy, he goes on the SIDEWALK. Weee!! Following that, there's footage that's somewhat pales in comparison. These are fires from New York and Amsterdam. I could actually take 12 or so more minutes of the fire truck on the sidewalk.

★★★ · Oh No! It's the Fire Engine Coming Down the Sidewalk Again! · Christine Hennig · 2006-06-13

More fire-engine-cam! This features another wild ride of the NYFD with a camera mounted on the front of a fire engine. Again, the streets are snow-covered, and pedestrians have to duck the fire engine as it occasionally goes up on the sidewalk. Again, this looks incredibly dangerous, but perhaps standards were different in the 20s. Following this is footage of the department fighting several major fires in the New York City area. This is all silent footage, but it has a great deal of historical value in documenting firefighting techniques back in the 20s, as well as giving us some great…