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impostershop t1_jcwbvrs wrote

Yes! AF seemed like the pawpaw we all collectively wanted to have. When I was young, I knew innately how talented he was, and tried to soak it in.

Which mall OP? Arsenio mall? (/s)

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ppomeroy t1_jd4s26d wrote

Arthur could be a salty ol' bird at times. He was an amateur fire historian and often showed up with his driver at large fires to take pictures and talk with the first responders on the ground. We'd greet him, "Hi Mr. Fiedler," and he would reply, "How's it goin' tonight boys." He would then (and often) critique the fire fighting operations and point out what we were doing wrong. He was a hoot.

I say "salty" since his vernacular was... shall we say... "colorful" at times.

Not too many people know, or may remember unless you have some gray hair, that Arthur paid to have the fire department telegraphs from multiple cities such as Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and some others, wired into his home. And he could read them.

The telegraphs were the original centralized fire dispatch system, and Boston was the first to centralize such. In the past neighborhood fire boxes went only to the local station. After the Great Boston Fire, Boston centralized the boxes and then dispatched from there. Arthur would know where all of the big fires were.

The telegraphs or "tapper system" are still in use as a back up to radio transmissions these days. Some departments have abandoned these but Boston keeps them as a failsafe system. Boston's fire department's tappers are also on their own power supply so if overall power goes out, fire boxes still work. You can see the tappers at all of Boston's Fire stations and also at the Boston Fire Museum intown Boston on Congress Street.

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