Color film with sound created in conjunction with the Red Cross and United Fund to show how vital the fire department rescue squad is becaue they are trained in first aid and water rescue by the Red Cross. A dispatch station, firefighters using a pole to get to the fire trucks and a fire truck heading north on Broadway street are featured. The film was designed to encourage fundraising for the Red Cross through the United Fund.
Color film with some sound of the installation of a life ring box at Silver Lake. The life ring was a response to the drowning of several firefighters in attempting to rescue someone who had fallen in the lake after walking on thin ice. The following events take place in the film: (00:28) Irwin Palmer places the life ring in the box. (00:43) Mayor Alexander Smedtka encourages the proper use of the ring. (01:03) Irwin Palmer reminds people the ice is never safe.
Black-and-white silent film of a Home Service Survey - an inspection the firefighters would offer free of charge to homeowners to point out potential safety concerns and fire hazards. A 1967 Pirsch truck is the first engine out of the fire station at Sixth Street and Broadway Avenue. The following events take place in the film: (00:21) The ladder truck had both front and rear steering. (00:51) John Walsh is the firefighter doing the inspection.
Black-and-white animated film with sound that promoted good practices to prevent fires. Chief Mertz, of the Rochester Fire Department, said he would regularly purchase these to display as a public service, usually in October during Fire Safety Week.
The upper floors of St. Raphael's Hospital II were destroyed by fire in 1905. This was the sisters' third hospital in St. Cloud. With the failure of the hospital site (St. Raphael's I) east of the Mississippi River, the sisters had again faced the burden of financing a hospital; financial aid from the city was not available. In 1900 they had built this hospital of 2+ stories, large enough for 50 patients, next to the site of the first hospital on Ninth Avenue. It was again named St. Raphael's and often referred to as St. Raphael's II. The fire gave the necessary thrust, not only to restore the upper floors, but to expand the hospital. (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives, McDonald, pages 257-258).
