Fire "Buff" (from NYC)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 16 May 2005 10:59:24 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>On Mon, 16 May 2005 04:25:30 EDT, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>>_http://www.barrypopik.com/article/830/fire-buff_
>>(http://www.barrypopik.com/article/830/fire-buff)
>>...
>>I've had a little trouble finding early citations for "buff" (a New
>>York City term, surprisingly),  but the later citations are
>>interesting.
>
>Here's an intriguing early citation that squares with the derivation of
>"buff" from "buffalo" as given on Barry's site:
>
>-----
>Forest and Stream, Apr 26, 1883, p. 252, col. 1
>NEW YORK FIRE DOGS.
>Engine Company No. 30, in Sixty-seventh street, near Third avenue, has
>one of the finest canine members in the department. Buff was presented
>to Foreman Perley about three years ago. He was then a half-grown
>Newfoundland dog, and he put himself at once on the best of terms with
>the company. Among old firemen a half-time volunteer was known as a
>"buffalo," and the four-footed new comer was so styled by the men.
>-----

I'm not sure how relevant this is, but starting in 1897 there are
references in the New York papers to the "Buffalo system" or "Buffalo
plan" for organizing volunteer fire companies.  The capitalized "Buffalo"
surely suggests that the system was modeled after one in Buffalo, NY,
though this is never explicitly stated in the articles.  It's possible
that it originally referred to the old term "buffalo" for a part-time
volunteer fireman, and this was reanalyzed as referring to the city of
Buffalo.

As for the rationale for calling a volunteer fireman a "buffalo", the
explanation given by Mencken et al. about rich young men wearing buffalo
skins seems a little dubious (see Barry's site).

-----
New York Times, May 7, 1897, p. 7
Steps were taken yesterday by the Board of Fire Commissioners of Long
Island City toward abolishing the present paid Fire Department and
adopting the Buffalo system, which is practically a volunteer department.
-----
Brooklyn Eagle, May 7, 1897, p. 16
The contemplated disbandment of the fire department and introduction of
the Buffalo system is merely a big bluff on Mayor Gleason's part.
http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/BEG/1897/05/07/002-BEG-1897-05-07-01-SINGLE.PDF#OLV0_Entity_0648
-----
New York Times, May 30, 1897, p. 23
The paid Fire Department of Long Island City has been disbanded by the
Fire Commissioners. The Buffalo system will take its place, and will go
into effect immediately.
-----
Brooklyn Eagle, June 21, 1897, p. 3
The action of Mayor Gleason and his Board of Fire Commissioners in
reorganizing the Fire Department several weeks ago on the "Buffalo" system
and leaving the Astoria and Steinway sections of the city without
immediate fire protection, is the subject of investigation today by the
Queens County grand jury.
http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/BEG/1897/06/21/002-BEG-1897-06-21-01-SINGLE.PDF#OLV0_Entity_0068
-----
Brooklyn Eagle, Aug 20, 1897, p. 7
The department is now run on the Buffalo plan. We employ in the A class
twenty men who work all the time at a salary of $800 for the firemen and
$850 for the engineers and foremen. We employ eight men in the B class who
work fifteen days in each month, or on half time, at a proportionate
salary, and twelve men in the C class at $5 per month, who answer all
alarms and are paid for the time they actually work at fires, sometimes a
week continuously.
http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/BEG/1897/08/20/002-BEG-1897-08-20-01-SINGLE.PDF#OLV0_Entity_0263
-----


--Ben Zimmer