and as a rule, snow does not remain long on the ground. Winters are usually mild and short; the average winter temperature is 35 degrees Fahrenheit. The average summer temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and the average relative humidity in summer is 69 percent. FIRE PROTECTION With the exception of a small area in the Curtis Bay section, all waterfront property in Baltimore harbor is within easy reach of the city water system, and all of the principal piers have outlets for hose and fireboat connections. Municipal fire department chemical companies serving the eastern and southern oil districts are equipped with foam pumping engines to combat oil fires. Water pressures in the mains vary in different sections of the city; along the waterfront the pressure is from 50- to 75-p.s.i. and in other sections from 50- to 100-p.s.i. The fire department's high-pressure pumping station, located one-half city block from the upper harbor, supplies a separate system of fire mains in the high-value district. Only a few of the system's hydrants are located adjacent to the upper harbor. Baltimore City Fire Department's fire fighting equipment, which responds to inland and waterfront alarms, consists of: Fifty-four pumpers with capacities ranging from 750- to 1,250-g.p.m., twenty-nine ladder trucks, four foam trucks, four high-pressure hose trucks, two water towers, and one rescue truck. In addition, the Department also maintains a reserve of second line equipment mumbering twenty-seven 750-g.p.m. pumpers, eight ladder trucks, and one foam truck, all ready for service. The Marine Division of the Fire Department, which is independent of the land fire fighting forces, maintains 4 modern fireboats and a tender. These fireboats have rated capacities ranging from 3,000- to 9,000-g.p.m. and are equipped with monitor nozzles, searchlights, and portable floodlights. The City Police Department operates two patrol boats, each equipped for fire duty. A tug operated by the City's Bureau of Harbors is also equipped with fire fighting apparatus. Numerous commercially operated tugs within the harbor are provided with monitor nozzles, as are U.S. Coast Guard cutters and picket boats with similar attendant apparatus. Response to alarms on the waterfront varies slightly, depending upon the location and the hazard involved. The average assignment is as follows: 1st alarm 3 pumpers, 2 ladder trucks, 1 high-pressure hose truck, 1 fireboat, and 1 Battalion Chief. 2nd alarm - 3 pumpers, 1 rescue company, 2 ladder trucks, 1 Battalion Chief, and 1 Deputy Chief. 3rd alarm · 4 pumpers, 1 fireboat, 1 Battalion Chief, and the Chief of the Department. 4th alarm 4 pumpers, 2 ladder trucks, and 1 Battalion Chief. 5th alarm 4 pumpers. 4 pumpers. In some locations ↳ pumpers respond on first alarms, also a foam company as well as the Deputy Chief. Most of the transit sheds and warehouses are sprinklered. To supplement the fire protection afforded by the City, many of the individual owners and operators have special fire fighting equipment, including, in some cases, their own fire departments, as shown under Fire Protection in the tables of Piers, Wharves, and Docks beginning on page 75 of this report. PORT ADMINISTRATION AND FEDERAL SERVICES The Federal Government and the city of Baltimore share administrative jurisdiction over the port. Baltimore, essentially a privately owned and operated port, has no counterpart to the port authorities, dock boards, and similar public agencies which exercise various degrees of administrative and operating authority in major seaports in the United States and abroad. For some years there has existed among groups and individuals interested in the commerce of the port sentiment for the establishment of a central port administrative agency. Although several comprehensive proposals have been advanced for consideration, the latest having failed of passage by the 1955 session of the state legislature, there has been no general agreement by the parties at interest on the range of authority desirable for such a central agency. Several committees, notably the Joint Port Commission whose members are appointed by the governor of the state and the mayor of Baltimore, are presently at work seeking to devise legislation which will achieve both approval in local port circles and enactment by the next session of the legislature in 1957. Several functions normally assumed in United States ports by public port administrative bodies, such as port promotion and representation before regulatory agencies, are performed in Baltimore by private organizations. The Export and Import Bureau of the Baltimore Association of Commerce is very active in all phases of port promotion, maintaining field offices in New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh, and providing a comprehensive informational and advisory service in furtherance of Baltimore's commerce. The Traffic and Transportation Bureau, also part of the Association of Commerce, acts on behalf of the port in proceedings before governmental regulatory agencies and provides information on such subjects as rail, water, and truck rates, routes, and services, Interstate Commerce Commission and Federal Maritime Board regulations, and transportation legislation. Federal Government The Federal Government administers the customs, quarantine, and immigration laws, and also discharges numerous other functions deriving from its responsibility for national defense and its authority over commerce and navigation. Port functions of individual Federal agencies active in Baltimore are described in this chapter under the heading "Federal Services." City of Baltimore General supervision and regulation of the harbor is vested in the Bureau of Harbors, a division of the city Department of Public Works. The responsibilities of the harbor master's office, which functions directly under the city controller, are mainly concerned with the use of the public wharves. Municipal activity in financing port construction and modernization is a function of the Port of Baltimore Commission. The Harbor Advisory Board acts in cooperation with the Bureau of Harbors in investigating and reporting on matters vitally affecting the continued efficient operation of the port. The duties and powers of these agencies are set forth in more detail immediately following. Bureau of Harbors.- The Bureau of Harbors, which is headed by the Harbor Engineer, an appointee of the mayor, has charge of the harbor, wharves, and navigable waters, including bridges over and tunnels under navigable waters, in and adjacent to Baltimore, and of all municipally owned vessels not specifically within the responsibility of other agencies of the city government. The jurisdiction of the bureau extends over the entire Baltimore harbor, which is defined by an act of the Maryland legislature to include the Patapsco River and its tributaries to an outer limit formed by a line between Bodkin Point and North Point where the Patapsco River enters Chesapeake Bay. This area includes tributary waters not only in the city of Baltimore but also in Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County. Among the more important responsibilities of the Bureau of Harbors are the following: construction and repair of public wharves and bulkheads; inspection of waterfront facilities, whether private or public, and, in the case of facilities found in a condition likely to be injurious to navigation, health, or safety, enforcement of requirements that such facilities be brought to acceptable condition; issuing permits for harbor construction and related activity, such as alteration or removal of piers and piling, construction of superstructures on piers, pile driving and dredging; maintenance dredging which is outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Government; deposit of fill; and establishment of harbor lines in cooperation with the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army. The bureau is also responsible for regulation of vessel movement and anchoring; management of ice-breakers operated by the city; operation of drift collectors and oil-skimming equipment; prosecution of harbor pollution charges; enforcement of deck load 11mits on piers; and operation of drawbridges over navigable waters in and adjacent to the city. Harbormaster. The harbormaster is appointed by and is under the supervision of the city controller. His principal duties are to supervise and regulate the use of public wharves and to collect dockage, wharfage, and storage charges for the use thereof. He also cooperates with the harbor engineer in certain enforcement duties on the waterfront, particularly those with regard to deck load limits on piers and deposit of materials in the Patapsco River or its tributaries. Port of Baltimore Commission. In 1951 the General Assembly of Maryland |