A fire chief was in a fire station. Someone knocked loudly at the door and Foggins came in. He wanted a job of a fireman, because he liked smashing things – like doors, and windows, and tables. The fire chief hesitated, and Foggins continued to beg. Finally the fire chief asked Foggins what the most important thing in a fireman’s equipment was, but Foggins didn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘equipment’, and when the fire chief explained it to him, Foggins said that the most important thing was the fireman’s axe, which was wrong, of course. The most important thing a fireman had got was a telephone. Foggins didn’t understand why it was a telephone because it was impossible to smash doors with a telephone, so the fire chief explained: when this telephone rang, someone was in a trouble, someone needed help and someone needed the Fire Service. Suddenly the telephone rang, the fire chief answered it saying that he was busy, and he put it down. After that the fire chief proposed Foggins to do fire practice with the new firemen. Boggins and Coggins came in and the fire chief made introductions all round, then he asked where most fires started. Boggins said ‘in a box of matches’, Coggins didn’t know, Foggins even forgot the question, and after that he said that the most fires started at the Fire Station. The fire chief said the right version: the most fires started in everybody’s house, after what the new firemen began to panic, because everyone took it personally, so the fire chief explained that it was just an expression that meant ‘houses in general’, and the men calmed down. The second question was what you should do if there was a fire in the house. Coggins said that person should go next door, but it was wrong. Person should call the Fire Service, so the fire chief decided to do the telephone practice. Bogins gave the telephone to Coggins, so Coggins was the telephone, Foggins was the telephone bell – it meant that he must make a ringing noise when the fire chief blew his whistle. The fire chief blew his whistle and Foggins made a noise like an ambulance, so the fire chief had to blow his whistle again, after what Foggins said ‘ring ring’, but Boggins did nothing. The fire chief noticed to him that telephone was ringing, but Boggins said it was just Foggins pronouncing ‘ring ring’. Finally he picked up the telephone, but Foggins continued to ‘ring’, so the fire chief said to start the telephone practice again. So he blew his whistle, Foggins said ‘ring ring’ and Boggins picked up the telephone. The fire chief started to imitate an old lady, whose house was on fire, and Boggins understood it not from the first. After that ‘an old lady’ said that her kitchen was on fire, so Boggins assured her that they are on the way and put the telephone down, after what the firemen found out that they didn’t even know the address of this old lady. Suddenly, the telephone rang, and the fire chief, thinking it was Foggins again, asked him to stop make this noise. But it was a real telephone, so Coggins answered it. It was a fire, and the fire chief asked everyone not to panic. But when he heard the address of the fire, he started to panic hardly, because it was his house!

A fire chief was at a fire station. Foggins knocked loudly at the door and came in. He wanted a job of a fireman, because he liked smashing things – like doors, and windows, and tables. The fire chief hesitated, and Foggins continued to beg. Finally the fire chief asked Foggins what the most important piece of fireman's equipment was, but Foggins didn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘equipment’, and when the fire chief explained it to him, Foggins said that the most important thing was the fireman’s axe which was wrong, of course, because the most important piece of equipment for a fireman was a telephone. Foggins didn’t understand why a telephone was a fireman's most important thing because it was impossible to smash doors with it, so the fire chief explained: when the telephone at the Fire Station rang, someone was in a trouble and needed help of the Fire Service. Suddenly the telephone rang and the fire chief answered saying that he was busy, and he put it down. After that the fire chief proposed Foggins to do fire practice with two newly arrived firemen - Boggins and Coggins. Then the fire chief asked all of them where most fires started. Boggins said, ‘in a box of matches’, Coggins didn’t know the answer and Foggins even forgot the question, and after that he said that the most fires started at the Fire Station. The fire chief said the correct answer: 'the most fires started in everybody’s house', and after that the new firemen began to panic, because everyone took it personally. So the fire chief explained that it was just an expression that meant ‘houses in general’, and the men calmed down. The second question was 'what they should do if there was a fire in the house'. Coggins said that a person should go next door, but he was wrong. The fire chief said that the person should call the Fire Service and he decided to do the telephone practice. Bogins gave the telephone to Coggins to imitate the telephone and Foggins imitated the telephone bell – it meant that he must make a ringing noise at a signal. The fire chief blew his whistle and Foggins made a noise as if he were an ambulance, so the fire chief had to blow his whistle again, after what Foggins said ‘ring ring’, but Boggins did nothing. The fire chief reminded him of the ringing, but Boggins said it was not a telephone but just Foggins repeating ‘ring ring’. Finally he acted out picking up the telephone, but Foggins continued to ‘ring’, so the fire chief asked to start the telephone practice again. So he blew his whistle again, Foggins said ‘ring ring’ and Boggins pretended to pick up the telephone. The fire chief started to imitate that he was an old lady, whose house was on fire, and Boggins failed to understand it at the first time. After that ‘the old lady’ said that her kitchen was on fire, so Boggins assured her that they were already on the way and put the telephone down, but then the firemen found out that they didn’t even know the address of this old lady. Suddenly, the real telephone rang, and the fire chief, thinking it was Foggins' ringing imitation again, asked him to stop make that noise, but Coggins answered. It was a real fire, and the fire chief asked everyone not to panic. But when he heard the address where the fire was, he started to panic, because the fire was in his house!

A fire chief was at a fire station. Foggins knocked loudly at the door and came in. He wanted a job of a fireman, because he liked smashing things – like doors, and windows, and tables. The fire chief wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but Foggins continued to beg, and finally the fire chief asked Foggins what the most important piece of equipment of firemen was, but Foggins didn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘equipment’, so the fireman explained it, and Foggins said that the fireman’s axe was the most important thing but it was wrong, because a firemen's most important thing was a telephone. Foggins didn’t understand why it was a telephone because it was impossible to smash things with it, so the fire chief explained that when this telephone rang someone needed the help of the Fire Service. Suddenly the telephone rang so the fire chief answered and said that he was busy. After that the fire chief proposed Foggins to do fire practice with two newly arrived firemen – Boggins and Coggins and the fire chief asked them where most fires started. Boggins said ‘in a box of matches’, Coggins didn’t know the answer and Foggins even forgot the question, then he said that the most fires started at the Fire Station. The fire chief said the correct version that sounded like the most fires started in everybody’s house, after what the new firemen began to panic, because everybody of them took it personally, so the fire chief had to explain that it was just an expression that meant ‘houses in general’, so the firemen calmed down. The second question the fire chief asked was what somebody should do if there was a fire in his house. Coggins said that this person should go next door, but this answer was wrong. The person should call the Fire Service, so the fire chief decided to do the telephone practice. Boggins gave the telephone to Coggins, who should imitate the telephone, Foggins should imitate the telephone bell – he must make a ringing noise when the fire chief would blow his whistle, so the fire chief did it and Foggins made a noise like an ambulance, and the fire chief had to blow his whistle again, after what Foggins said ‘ring ring’, but Boggins didn’t respond. The fire chief reminded to him that telephone was ringing, but Boggins said that it was just Foggins who said ‘ring ring’. Finally Boggins picked up the telephone, but Foggins continued to say ‘ring ring’, so the fire chief said to start the telephone practice again, so he blew his whistle, Foggins said ‘ring ring’ and Boggins picked up the telephone. The fire chief started to imitate an old lady, whose house was on fire, but Boggins didn’t understand it from the first time. After that the fire chief, continuing to imitate an old lady, said that her kitchen was on fire, so Boggins assured her that firemen are on the way to her house and put the telephone down, but after that the firemen found out that they didn’t even know the address of this lady. Suddenly, the real telephone rang, and the fire chief, thinking it was Foggins’ imitation again, asked him to stop make this noise. But Coggins answered the telephone. It was a fire in somebody’s house, and the fire chief asked everyone not to panic. But when he heard the address of the house where a fire was, he started to panic, because it was his own house.