The Coral Gables Times

Thursday, July 27, 1961, page 16 (of 24)

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For Home on the Range, You Just Can't Top Joe

By BECKY DOYLE-QUINN Times Reporter | Many a housewife has been frustrated by telephone bells and doorbells while preparing a meal for a family of four. But how would they like to try to prepare a meal for 10 hungry men under the constant threat of a firebell? That's exactly what the cook does every day at Fire Station No. 2, Riviera Drive and South Dixie Highway. Lunch at the firehouse is cooked by the firemen themselves. Men who like to cook take the job for weeks at a time. They are exempted from other housekeeping duties — except the trucks. What happens if the roast is in the oven, things are going smoothly, you're setting the table — and then the bell rings? 'RUN LIKE DICKENS' "You just turn off the fires and run like the dickens to get to the truck on time," says Joe Atwood, who is currently serving as cook for Shift No. 3. Joe, a well-built, crew-cut young man who works part time at the Youth Center, has been a fireman for four years. "I love the job," he says. "You work 24 hours straight and then you're off for the next 48. And you could not ask for a finer group of men to work with. They couldn't run me out of here with a shotgun." The Coral Gables Fire Department has 60 men, divided into three shifts of 20 men each. Nine are stationed at the new station, the other eleven stay at the old station across from the bus terminal. The new station, opened April 8, is a spacious, modern building. The kitchen is a bright, cherry yellow with a more than adequate amount of counter space. THREE CLOSETS There are three closets in the kitchen, one for each shift. Each is painted a different color. One is black, the next blue and number 3's white. The men pay for their own meals. The cook acts as purchasing agent. They watch for sales, buy what they need, and divvy the cost. The acting cook gets his meals free. The cook doesn't actually do every bit of the work connected with a meal. The other men help, voluntarily. Last Wednesday they had barbequed chicken. One of the men brought a grill from home to use for a few days. CUTTING SQUASH When we arrived, Joe was busy cutting squash. The chicken was cut and waiting on trays to be put on the grill. Joe explained that since he had only been on the job for the past three days, he talked to his wife the night before and asks her for suggestions as to what to have and the best way to prepare it. So far he hasn't had too much trouble. What happens if the meals aren't as good as the men expect? "The cook had better improve in a hurry." Actually the men aren't too critical. They were free with their compliments Wednesday. But that may have been because they had company. Sometimes, no matter how good the meal is, they will "pitch one just for the fun of it." HELP EACH OTHER The men are all friendly and jovial. And they help each other. One came into the kitchen to remind Joe to keep some of the vegetables out of the pot for one of the firemen who didn't like cooked vegetables. The atmosphere around the firehouse is more like that of a fraternity house. The men joke a lot. Joe received a bit of ribbing because he had a reporter and a photographer in his kitchen. "I won't hear the end of this for weeks," he said. "Hey, Joe, let me polish your badge for you," yelled one of the guys on his way to the ping-pong table. Good-natured Joe just kept on slicing cucumbers. Preparations for the meal began about eleven and Joe was skeptical that lunch would be ready by noon. ON TIME But at just four minutes before 12 the chicken came off the grill. Joe had spent some time outside with the grill, basting the chicken with sauce and sprinkling water on the outside coals to keep the heat evenly distributed from the center. Dave Murray, attired in fatigue pants and a T-shirt, had finished setting the table, and only one thing was wrong. Joe had forgotten to buy napkins at the store and he had to use brown paper hand towels in their place. 'FAMILY LINENS' "I see we're using the family linens again," quipped one of the men as he sat down on one of the long benches flanking the table. "Ah, shut up," said Joe. "It was too hot to go back down to the store again." The new station is fully air-conditioned. Conversation at lunch covered many topics. One of them was the performance of former cooks. We were drinking Kool-Aid and someone remarked that it was a lot better than the iced tea they'd had the week before. "Man, that stuff practically growled at you." LUNCH WAS GOOD Lunch was good. The chicken was perfect and the squash had just enough onion in it. Potatoes, a salad plate, and bread completed the meal. Each man cleared his own place and the dishwashers got to work. The cook doesn't wash the dishes. The men take turns in pairs. At 1:15 everything was tidied. The bell hadn't rung — this time. Maybe it would at dinner, which Joe would start to prepare around three. -Photo by RAYMOND LANG | JOE ATWOOD TURNS CHICKEN AT FIRE HOUSE

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