smoke-eater

plural smoke-eaters

1. alternativeAlternative form of smoke eater.

   The blaze was yet a fern fire, but it was what the smoke-eaters called a “hot job.”

   1947, James Stevens, Paul Bunyan’s Bears, Seattle: Frank McCaffrey Publishers, page 111

   3 more examples

   A. H. Strom, the “firemen’s friend,” who has been serving coffee and sandwiches to the smoke-eaters at practically every fire of importance in the last twenty years, also spoke, as did Tommy Allen, Civil War Veteran, and former fireman.

   1920, International Fire Fighter, page 23

   In fact, six pieces of apparatus were called out as a result of the second and third alarms and the smoke was so thick that even some of the so-called “smoke-eaters” were overcome in their desperate efforts to check it.

   1927, The Express Messenger, page 13

   In his southern drawl, Fire Chief Chase Talbot addressed the thirty or so smoke-eaters assembled in the academy classroom, the smile on his face warm and affectionate.

   2001, Kathryn Shay, The Fire Within, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 79