2/12/17 Bronx 10-75 Box 3592

Signal73

Signal73

Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
20,571
Fire Location: 3573 DeKalb Ave

Fire on the 1st fl

People on the fire escape

E-79,63,62,81,48s/c
L-32,46,39(Fast),56s/c
B-27,15
R-3
Sq-61
D-7
Rac-3
 
 
On the 1966 card, I noticed that Ladder 46 is in the same station as the 3rd due Engine but they do not respond as the 3rd due ladder, they cover.  Isn't that unusual?
 
Assignment was as follows, Ladder 37 was relocated to 47 I believe. 62 became available off another box and was assigned first due replacing 81.
E62, 79, 63, 81, 48
L32, 46, 39F, 56
Batt 27, 15, D7
R3, SQ61
 
XPFD3,

Nice catch on TL 46. Here's the reason....

Until just about a decade ago,  Ladder 39 was located by itself in its old quarters, about a mile west of where they are today with Engine 63. The old house was directly across from Woodlawn Cemetery and  was closer to  Box 3592 than the quarters of Engine 81/L46. BUT....81/46 was closer than E63, at that time located on white Plains Rd at 229th Street. SO...81 was closer than 63, hence 3D Due...L39 closer than L46, hence 3D due.

With L39 now located with E63, TL 46 is closer to Box 3592 than L39.

In addition, L39 was the closest protection of the isolated Woodlawn neighborhood. Department Regulations required the house be filled with a relocator if L39 was to be out of quarters for an extended length of time (more than a 1/2 hour or a local multiple alarm). L46 was routinely assigned as the relocator. L46 missed a lot of work in Woodlawn, Wakefield, and Williamsbridge (aka, Gun Hill) back in those days sitting in 39's quarters.

When it was torn down, 39's former quarters were the oldest in the Bronx, built in 1899. It was a wooden structure and needed to be demolished. The citizens of Woodlawn fought like hell every time over the years that the Department announced it was moving 39 up the hill to E63. Mayor Bloomberg cut a deal with them...raze 39s house and move them in with 63 and I build you a new EMS Station on the site. It stands there today.

L39's old house was also the original quarters of Engine Company 69, which consisted of a steamer, hose wagon , and ladder truck. How E69 wound up in Harlem is another story. There is a very famous picture of horse drawn E69 galloping west on 233 d street. The last time I saw it, it was blown up and framed, hanging on the kitchen wall in a firehouse in Dallas, Texas, where I had stopped by for a visit. The men in the house had no idea what, where, or when the picture came from. Informing them got me an invite to stay for dinner.

State island, you are correct...E62/L32 normally 1st Due on all boxes north of Gun Hill Rd, south of the Cemetery.
 
  More Trivia: I was told by a L39 retiree that Ladder 46 used to have a wooden aerial and had to be careful when they relocated to L39. The firehouse was not too deep so they had to open a window in the back of firehouse before backing in.  ;)
 


I hope I added this picture correctly.  I Believe it's the picture described of E69 going west on 233rd Street
 
When I was about 10 years old my father was assigned to 39 Truck.  I spent many hours there with him on payday climbing on the rig, especially the tiller, and counting the bells for the house watchman.  One Sunday the Daily News printed this picture in their magazine section with a caption like Ladder 39 firehouse on East 233rd Street.  I wrote a letter to the news and they got the owner of the picture in touch with me.  Once they found out I wrote the letter and that my father was assigned there they sent me a copy.  It has been in the same frame and hanging on my wall ever since.  When I first got the picture I thought the news was wrong because the number on the helmet clearly says 69.  I took a while for one of my fathers Emerald Society buddies to research this a straighten me out.
 
  A LITTLE CONFUSING BUT: E. 233rd St. Engine 69 was a combination engine co. with a steamer, chemical hose wagon and a city service ladder truck until they were disbanded on Jan. 1, 1916. On that same day, L39 was relocated up there when the firehouse L39 shared with E89 at 1799 1st Ave. (@94th St.) was closed. On that same day, E89 was disbanded and reorganized as E91(2).  The E89/L39 firehouse was opened in 1909 because of a high incidence of arson in that area but only lasted 7 years until 1916. Engine 69 was reorganized a year later on April 17, 1917 in L28's 2 bay (L28 was a double Ladder co. from 1905 to 1915) firehouse filling a large area of northern Harlem without an engine company. Before E69, the next engine co. to the north was E38 at Amsterdam Ave. & 155th St. and to the west was E80. E59 at 137th St. & 7th Ave. was the engine co. to the south that had previously been 1st due in that area.  ;)
 
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