Bridgeport Fire Department Alphabetical Response Districts -
After numerical fire alarm boxes and their locations were removed from active service in the late 1970s and early '80s, the Bridgeport Fire Department adopted a new form of fire company response assignment that corresponded with each Engine Company's first-due district in the city. Each Engine Company's "still district" was given an alphabetical name corresponding with the company number. For example, Engine Co. 1's district was named "Adam" as "A" is the first letter of the alphabet. Thus, below is how the districts were named. The BFD no longer uses this system as of the mid 2000s.
Engine 1 - "Adam" - Downtown
Engine 2 - "Baker" - Lower East Side
Engine 3 - "Charlie" - West Side
Engine 4 - "David" - West Side
Engine 5 - "Edward" - Hollow/Madison
Engine 6 - "Frank" - Mill Hill
Engine 7 - "George" - West End
Engine 8 - "Henry" - East End
Engine 9 - N/A - N/A
Engine 10 - "John" - East Side
Engine 11 - "King" - Black Rock
Engine 12 - "Lewis" - Brooklawn
Engine 13 - N/A - N/A
Engine 14 - "Mary" - North End
Engine 15 - "Nancy" - North End
Engine 16 - "Otto" - North End
Airport - "Peter" - Sikorsky Memorial Airport (Stratford, CT)
Since Engine Co. 9 was disbanded prior to this system being put into effect, there was no response district for Engine 9, thus, there was no district name with a letter beginning with the 9th letter of the alphabet, i.e. "I". Additionally, since there was never an Engine Co. 13 in the BFD's history, the response district name corresponding with the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, "M", was given to Engine 14's still district. Up until the system was taken out of service, the districts of disbanded Engine Companies were absorbed into the response areas of other Engine Companies. For example, since Engine 11 was disbanded in the 1970s, Engine 7 then responded to fires at both George and King Boxes.
Each district name corresponded with a certain assignment of fire companies. If one company was unavailable, another company would move up on the assignment cards and fill in. For example, a "Frank 1" Box Assignment would consist of the following companies: Engine 6, Engine 10, Ladder 6, Rescue 5, 2nd Battalion Chief. Engine 6 is the first due Engine Co. as the "F" in Frank is the 6th letter of the alphabet. All "Frank" Assignments would get Engine Co. 6 as the first due Engine Co. A "Frank 2" Assignment would consist of the following companies: Engine 6, Engine 1, Ladder 6, Rescue 5, 2nd Battalion Chief. Note, the normally assigned 2nd Engine Co. on the assignment is switched out with another company. Usually responses for each alphabetically named district could alter up to five or six different times depending on fire company availability to respond, thus, you could have a "Frank 6" Assignment. The only response district that did not follow this protocol was the "Peter" District. Since there was no Engine 17 for the 17th letter of the alphabet, "Peter" referred to the district encompassing the Airport. A "Peter 1" Assignment was for a fire on the grounds and a "Peter 2" Assignment was for a fire off the grounds. Companies responding to these Assignments were a combination of airport fire apparatus and city fire companies closest to the airport.
Below is an example of how a radio dispatch would be said over the air:
"Signal 29, Signal 29...The assignment for this fire is Adam 1...This is reported to be a building fire at 1000 Main Street, between Congress Street and Golden Hill Street...The following companies are to respond: Battalion 1, Engine 1, Engine 3, Ladder 5, and Rescue 5." (Repeated)
