Probably 1987 or 88, I was sitting in the kitchen on Webster Ave in the Bronx, it was the change of tours and the DC and his relief were having coffee.
The topic of their conversation was about a meeting the DC had attended at Headquarters where he was told that "2 and 2 jobs don't matter, only fires of ALL Hands or greater count" That night, after midnight, we had a fire directly across the street from the firehouse in a vacant 4 story MD, small fire on the 2nd floor, building was bricked up on the 1st floor, portable to the 2nd floor, line up the ladder, fire was out, no big deal. Probably could have made it a 10-18 (1 and 1). I remember seeing the Deputy walk out of the firehouse in his T-shirt, carrying his radio, the 75 (All Hands) was transmitted, a few minutes later the 3rd due engine rolled in, the Deputy told the officer " you can take up, but don't go 10-8 until you get back to quarters" Same message for R3 and the ALL-Hands Chief when they arrived a few minutes later. He gave Downtown what they wanted, this fire counted, "using 2 and 2" was out and the 75 signal became the norm. Everybody got a mark for a "fire", though I guess some people would argue that some of the companies really didn't work. Does it matter........
nycfire.net
