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I believe 1972 was the year the RAND CORP study hit the job with its Adaptive Response policy.  Lots of companies, particularly 2d sections, closed.

Some discussion over the years on the forum about the sound of the buckeye. Found an old training video that has it. Near the very end of the video (7 minute mark) Engine 30 is seen responding and you can hear the sound almost drowning out the siren. http://youtu.be/WzPSSfpRM20

As a pure Bronx/ Manhattan guy, (three digits?...must be another country) always loved those old classic Brooklyn firehouses.  Great architects.

You're on a roll, mack! Great stuff! (Aka...boodle.)

Another change in the times 68jk. Back in the 50's the bonfire event might last a half hour. It was capped off by the arrival of Engine 79. What debris they did not wash to the curb we boys moved it there, often supervised by the men returning from the taverns (with a few pops in them). Then...

Mack, They were used during the Korean War as well. I remember the distinct,  coarse sound that was nothing like a whistle. I also found a reference to them during WWI.

Thanks guys.  To your point, mack, only 23% of registered voters went to the polls in last year's NYC Mayoral election. DiBlasio got 72% of that, which means he was elected by 17% of the electorate. In 1953, 93% of registered voters turned out to elect Robert Wagner as mayor.. "The people have...

Thank you, manhattan.

I have memories as a kid of the annual election night bonfire,  right there on the middle of my street corner in the Bronx. The older boys would build it using cardboard boxes and wooden fruit crates gathered from the local "grocery stores" and "fruit markets" that greatly outnumbered the A&P or...

Great roll-up, fd.

Mack, without checking my files,  you pretty much nailed it. The division #'s changed frequently during the early 1900 s as the Department expanded across the city. The numbers pretty much solidified until the 1950's when the 6th reactivated. The 5th Division included the 19th Battalion (E's...

Fdhistorian, Div 7 went back to E82 from 15 May 1951 until 1 June 1956 when it went to E48. On the latter date Div 6 was revived from 34 years in mothballs and placed at E50. The South Bronx was starting to heat up.

The last two photos of Mack's posting show a small garage on 159th st, around the corner from the front of 71s old quarters on Park Ave. It was built in 1902 and marked a step up in the status of the Bronx in the FDNY. The borough had its own Division headquarters. It was at first the 4th...

Good catch jor176. Maybe that explains why E92 had nearly 8000 runs to lead the city and L44 less than 4000 and not in the top 25. Ditto 68/49.

To soda acids point,  E68 did 5500 workers on 6000 runs? Something amiss there. As Mark Twain said, "Lies, damn lies, and statistics".

Notice how that by 1977 all the South Bronx busy ladder companies, 17, 19, 27, 29, 31, 38, 42, 48,55, 58,  (and many of the engines) had dropped from the top 10. There was literally nothing left to burn. The South Bronx was rubble by then after the War Years. 

1939 Ward Lafrance. 1000gpm. Not a popular rig. Broke down often and tough to steer. Matching hose wagons were the last large batch of wagons (except for 3 Macks in 1941) to be purchased for frontline use.

FF Pete Farley, 1949. A very good buddy of my ol' man. RIP.

Johnd248, I assume you rode the '51 Ward when it was on its last legs to say it was slow. I remember when E79 got one of the first ones in service. It replaced a 20 year old Seagrave that looked ancient compared to the Ahrens Fox and Mack rigs running in my neighborhood. Yeah it was loud...

Nfd, The rigs were air conditioned. ...open cabs and the back step. .