1940s Los Angeles Fire Department - LAFD - Your Fire Department - CharlieDeanArchives

[@leviheidle524]

The opening music sounds like the “Something bad’s about to happen” music from “Emergency!” .

[@rapman5791]

Firefighters don’t use “gas masks” The Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) contain breathing air in the same molecular amount as what we breathe naturally. 80% Oxygen 20% Nitrogen. Which is room air. The SCBA does not contain 100% Oxygen due to the fact that Oxygen promotes combustion, that is combustion will not happen without Oxygen and adding it to a fire will increase the volatility of the fire. If you remember the fire on Apollo 1 in 1967, the astronauts were in a 100%Oxygen enriched environment and we all saw how that worked out. 😢

[@rapman5791]

I can tell you from experience, after fighting a hot & smoky fire. Breathing hot gasses and losing precious bodily fluids…..the last thing I wanted was a nice steaming cup of hot coffee 🤮. Coffee may be a firefighters favorite drink when we are sitting around the coffee table at the firehouse, but obviously this film was done in the 1940’s and coffee was pretty much a mainstay of most Americans. Today it’s important to replenish lost fluids and electrolytes that were lost in the fight with the red devil. Also, coffee is a diuretic which will dehydrate you, which is the exact opposite of what you need in this situation.

[@andyhamilton8940]

They usually cooled off with a cigarette also.