107 Years Ago
As army gas masks are obtainable from the war department at a very slight cost, it was voted to purchase two for the use of the fire department.
The Colorado Transcript - October 9, 1919
In Europe, World War I lasted for more than four years--from August of 1914 to November of 1918. America's involvement in the war was relatively short: we entered the war in April of 1917 and the Armistice (ceasefire) was declared in November of 1918.
Because the U.S. government had anticipated a longer war requiring a bigger army, it built up an enormous stockpile of military equipment. When the war ended, the government needed to reduce the stockpile. At the same time, they didn't want to upset the economy by flooding it with cheap or free goods. One approach was to make the equipment available to other government entities, such as the City of Golden.
These masks will be very valuable in fighting fires where there is heavy smoke or fumes. Such masks would have saved much property had the department been equipped with them at the School of Mines chemical laboratory fire some years ago, or at the Robinson book store fire, the firemen finding it impossible to get at the seat of the blaze in both those cases.
