"Firemen also tend to have mustaches, because it's the only facial hair they can have and still get a proper seal with a respirator."
Does it have anything to do with those old two handled water pumps?
Either that or it was a sensory thing? If you saw, heard, smelt or felt the ends of your handlebar singeing ...it was time to get the f**k out?
Firemen used to have those giant, walrus looking like, mouth hiding type staches to use as a filter so they didnt get soot, cinders, and embers in their mouth in the days before breathing apparatus