Boro Call / Largest Response

Thanks for the above information Ig. All I can say is strange...curious....interesting. It certainly raises questions.

All within six months in 1968? At that time the "War Years" was just getting underway and everybody was still "running off the bells".

On 1/11/68, temperature was below freezing and there had already been three four alarm fires in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx when Box 2848 hit in at 2:31 pm.

In early February there was a sanitation strike that pushed FDNY to the limit. 2/7 had 746 trash fires and 888 on the 8th. On 2/23 the Third Battalion was relocated from Engine 82 to Engine 94. On 2/26 the retired Captain of Engine 313 died as an LODD. I can't find any record of the eight alarms at Box 2456.

The seven alarm job at Box 2381 at E. 163rd St near Third Ave. was a one story 100x125 foot commercial on 6/6/68.

My first thought: a dispatcher's boro call to get enough engine companies rapidly on the scene?
 
entropychaser said:
Thanks for the above information Ig. All I can say is strange...curious....interesting. It certainly raises questions.

All within six months in 1968? At that time the "War Years" was just getting underway and everybody was still "running off the bells".

On 1/11/68, temperature was below freezing and there had already been three four alarm fires in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx when Box 2848 hit in at 2:31 pm.

In early February there was a sanitation strike that pushed FDNY to the limit. 2/7 had 746 trash fires and 888 on the 8th. On 2/23 the Third Battalion was relocated from Engine 82 to Engine 94. On 2/26 the retired Captain of Engine 313 died as an LODD. I can't find any record of the eight alarms at Box 2456.

The seven alarm job at Box 2381 at E. 163rd St near Third Ave. was a one story 100x125 foot commercial on 6/6/68.

My first thought: a dispatcher's boro call to get enough engine companies rapidly on the scene?
Click to expand...
8 alarms Queens Box 1380, Promeanade and Beach March 31 1968.
 
Engine 97 was established in 1931. In 1957, Engine 72 was moved from Downtown to become the second section of Engine 41. Engine 66 was still a fire boat.
I am unaware of Bronx ever supplying engines on a boro call.

Into the War Years, the Bronx CO frequently had problems providing engine responses during peak demand. And the peaks were getting higher and more frequent. Manhattan was of no help when the 12th and 16th Battalions were busy. And besides time and distance across the bridges, Queens had their hands full supplying engine relocators into Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, or East New York.

When the Rand Corporation arrived, one of their first assignments was to develop a plan to increase engine company availability in the Bronx.
They started by gathering data. The key points for consideration were total engine runs, time of unavailability, and (as they found out in Brooklyn) alarm rate. When the alarm rate rose from 10 to 20 to 30 per hour, the wheels fell off the operation. If the rate got to 50/hour, dispatch time essentially went to infinity.

The fire department is no different than the power company. If they get a demand that's 100% of supply, increasing supply or shedding load (or both) is mandatory.

Rand found that peak demand happened around 2100 hours- on average. Their suggestion was to increase supply by the use of the tactical control units from 1530 hours to 0030 hr. This, in turn, led to second sections, DRB boxes, fallback steps, and ERS boxes.
 
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