The way it used to be on SI, or "the Borough of Richmond":
Before the Korean War Vet Parkway was built, Drumgoole Boulevard, a divided highway, ran between the Outerbridge and the Richmond Ave/Arthur Kill Road/Drumgoole Boulevard intersection. In those days, up to the 1960s - no SI Dump, no SI Mall, no E 167/L 87/E 168/E165/L85/E 166/L 86 and no GPS. Instead there was the - SI airport, SI drive-in movie theater, and the SI Farmers Market located nearby on Richmond Avenue.
E 164/L84 was first or second due everywhere on the South Shore, or so it seemed.
Locations were difficult to get to, particularly with poor maps, lack of street signs, dirt roads and "notional-only" streets. Many fire alarm boxes were dummy boxes on roads that were not even cut through large wooded areas. Brush fire units were not special rigs but regular CD pumpers or second piece apparatus staffed by an OT crew. Water mains were insufficient and hydrants often distant.
And - there were 2 locations for "Arthur Kill Road and Drumgoole Boulevard", over 5 miles apart. During brush fire seasons, relocating companies from Brooklyn and Manhattan frequently went to the wrong intersection - and both were active brush boxes for large brush fire areas.
My buddy and I used to hang out at the firehouse in Huguenot which was a brush fire staging area, play handball against the firehouse wall - and wait for runs to be a navigator for the Brooklyn and Manhattan engine companies. Not bad duty, got to sit next to officer while responding, help the chauffer, stretch and even operate booster lines and go for soda runs if a deli or candy story was near-by. In SI, nothing was really near-by, but within a mile was reasonable for a kid - and we knew every deli and candy store from Tottenville to New Dorp. Pay was usually a few packs of baseball cards, a maybe one had a Mickey Mantle or a Willy Mays or a Yogi Berra.
Sometimes a brush fire would sweep by a company deep in the woods and the chauffer would be left to defend the rig parked along heavily wooded roads, with the deck pipe. Sometimes a simple brush fire that seemed to be knocked down would get a boost from the wind or hit a patch of heavy brush - and barns, sheds, garages or houses would get involved and it was a long time to get help - if any help was available.
It was a tough and dangerous job as a kid to hang out at the firehouse in - the good old days.
