Fabulous Firehouses become Homes and Businesses

mack

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Ladder 107/Bn 29/Ladder 175 - former quarters - 79 New Jersey Avenue (L 107 1890-1970/Bn 29 1896-1906/L 175 1970-1985)  L 107 originally L 7 BFD/Bn 29 originally District Engineer 9 BFD

L 107:

"
HOOK AND LADDER COMPANY NO. 7 : THE FIRST IN THE ANNEXED DISTRICT
Truck No. 7 is located on New Jersey Avenue, between Fulton Avenue and the
Jamaica Plank Road.  It was organized on Aug. 4, 1886, the day the town of
New Lots was made a part of Brooklyn.  The first home of the company was in
a little two-story frame building on the Jamaica Plank Road near New Jersey
Avenue, which was fitted up for temporary quarters.  For nearly three years
the company remained there, until the present fine structure was built and
ready for occupancy.

On the night before the law annexing New Lots to the city of Brooklyn went
into effect, twelve tried and true men were delegated to go out to East New
York and do service with the new truck company.  Captain Peter Campbell,
for many years in charge of Truck No. 3, was placed in command, and as he
has often said since, he was surrounded by a force of men that seldom had an
equal and never a superior in the Department.  The hour of midnight
announced to the men that their duty had begun.  Provided with a new and
perfectly equipped Hayes Truck and a spanking trio of horses, the men
started out under the most favorable auspices.  How well the trust reposed
in them has been discharged is. best attested by the esteem in which the men
are held by the residents and tax-payers. There was of course some
opposition to the Paid Department in the new ward, but it only came from the
members of the Volunteer Fire Department.  For a long time the latter had
performed all the fire duty in the town and looked upon the work and
attendant honor as theirs by right.  But it did not take the residents and
tax-payers long to appreciate the change for the better, and while they felt
grateful to the volunteers for what they had done the introduction of the
Paid Department of Brooklyn was hailed as a great boon, the effect of which
has been felt since in the large number of houses that have been erected.
The territory covered by the company is a large, growing and important one.
It includes all the Twenty-sixth Ward and the upper end of the Eighteenth
Ward.  The company responds to thirty-six first-alarm calls and to twenty
on the second-alarm. Last  year the company attended over 100 fires, the
largest of which was in the dry goods and  furnishers' house of Bourke &
Ryan and the adjoining houses, with a loss of about $100.000.  Truck No. 7
was the first company at the scene, and owing to the hard and intelligent
work performed by the men the fire was limited in its extent.  Among the
large and important structures in the ward are the car houses and terminal
stations of. the Kings County and Brooklyn Elevated Railway Companies, the
car houses and freight depot of the Long Island Railroad Company, the Long
Island Water Supply Company's plant, the House of the Good Shepherd, St.
Malachi's House, and several large manufacturing concerns.  The men of the
company are well drilled and disciplined. Excellent time is made in hitching
up and getting out to a fire.  On several tests the "turn was done" in
twelve seconds, although the horses necessarily have far to go on account of
the length of the truck.  Among the members of the company are many
veterans in the business, together with a sprinkling of young men of brawn
and muscle."  Our Firemen - Official History of the BFD"

 

mack

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Ladder 107/Ladder 175/Bn 29 - 79 NJ Ave - cont.

Bn 29 (BFB District Engineer 9) - original battalion chief


"DISTRICT ENGINEER WILLIAM McCARTHY. William McCARTHY is one of the five
Foremen whom Commissioner ENNIS, on July 18, 1892, decorated with three
trumpets, the insignia of the rank of District Engineer.  Among the five,
there was not one better entitled to advancement than Mr. McCARTHY, who had
risen from the ranks simply on his own merits.  It was on June 10, 1873,
that Mr. McCARTHY was made a member of the Fire Department and assigned to
duty with Engine No. 12.  He had been in the Department but a few months
when a fire occurred in an old frame building at the foot of Grand Street.
The building had a gable roof and the only foothold for the firemen was in
the gutter.  McCARTHY was standing in the gutter and near him was Foreman
KEIGHLER of Engine No. 13.  In attempting to change his position Foreman
KEIGHLER's foot slipped from the edge of the gutter, and had it not been for
Private McCARTHY's prompt action and firm grip, the sturdy Foreman of Engine
No. 13 would have fallen to the street.  It was an heroic act on the part
of McCARTHY, for in stretching out his hand to save his brother fireman he
well knew that he was in eminent peril of being dragged down to a horrible
death with the man he was trying to save.  But luck and skill were with
him, and his strong right arm clung with death-like tenacity to its burden
until assistance arrived and Foreman KEIGHLER was rescued from his perilous
position.  It was an exciting moment in the lives of both men.    Foreman
KEIGHLER and a few others who witnessed the brave act have never forgotten
the occasion nor ceased to praise the gallant deed.  At the Locust Hill oil
works fire, where Foreman Charles KEEGAN lost his life, John W. Smith, then
Assistant Chief Engineer, was an eye-witness to this scene:?One of the crude
oil tanks sprung a leak and the flames ignited the oil.  A man with his
clothing ablaze rushed out of the building and sprang off the dock.  It was
low tide, and instead of jumping into the water, the man landed in the soft
mud.  Just at this juncture Mr. McCARTHY, then a member of Truck No. 4, was
seen running in the direction of the man who had jumped overboard.  As he
ran, he was pulling off his heavy fireman's overcoat, and when he reached
the point where the man, whom he then supposed was Foreman KEEGAN, had
jumped off, he leaped off into the mud and with his coat began to beat out
the flames, which were fast eating away the flesh of the unfortunate man,
who was afterward found to be not Foreman KEEGAN but Captain DEARING, the
owner of a canal-boat laden with oil.  When assistance arrived McCARTHY
aided materially in getting the unconscious form of Captain DEARING to the
dock, where he died soon after.

In the earlier history of the present Fire Department men were not advanced
in rank through civil service examinations, but were selected for promotion
simply by their superiors' estimate of their ability and worthiness.  From
the day that " Billy " McCARTHY entered the service his adaption for the
business was noted by his superiors in office, and especially by Assistant
Chief Smith.  He was a man who could be depended upon at all times.  His
judgment was good, and no better worker could be found in the Department.
When he was detailed for a time to the sub-telegraph office in the Eastern
District, there was never a fire of any importance but McCARTHY reported for
duty to his company and took an active part in the work.  When Engine
Company No. 21 was organized Assistant Chief Smith recommended McCARTHY for
Foreman and he was promoted to that rank on July 1, 1885, and placed in
command of that company.  The man who recommended him says, "I have never
had reason to regret that recommendation." Mr. McCARTHY was born in the
Emerald Isle on June 16, 1847, and came to this Country with his parents
when quite a young lad.  He served his adopted country in the Civil War as
a member of Company 1, 87th Regiment, N. Y. Volunteers, and after receiving
an honorable discharge took up his residence in Brooklyn.  His service in
the Fire Department constitutes one of the most creditable careers recorded
in the Department annals." "Our Firemen - Original History of BFD"


 

mack

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Ladder 107/Ladder 175/Bn 29 - 79 NJ Ave - cont.



Ladder 175 - first commander:
Capt. John T. Dunne - Ladder 175 - 14-year veteran
He was burned to death when he was caught in a flashover, March 28, 1971, as he attempted to rescue trapped occupants in a three-alarm tenement fire.


 

mack

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Hose Company 23 (Perry Hose Company 23) -  48 Horatio St  Greenwich Village (1847-1865) - volunteer company did not transition into FDNY in 1865)



No. 23. -- Triton. -- Perry. -- This company first organized under the name of "Triton" on April 1, 1839, and subsequently changed the name to "Perry," in honor of the celebrated Commodore. Two round panels of Perry Hose, illustrating commodore Perry's victory, and which were owned by ex-President King of the Fire Department, are preserved at the Volunteer Firemen's Headquarters. No. 23 was located in Charles Street, near Hudson; after 1847 in Horatio Street, near Hudson, and went out of service in 1865.

Among the members were Alexander V. Davidson, who became an assistant engineer in 1865, and in later years was sheriff; John J. Gorman, who was president of the New Department, and is now a police justice; John Cavana, asssitant foreman about 1855; John Osborne, Wm. H. Ambury, and Robert Brien."  (from "Our Firemen - The History of the NY Fire Departments")

1850s book illustrations - NYC firefighting:





 
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mack said:
Ladder 107/Ladder 175/Bn 29 - 79 NJ Ave - cont.



Ladder 175 - first commander:
Capt. John T. Dunne - Ladder 175 - 14-year veteran
He was burned to death when he was caught in a flashover, March 28, 1971, as he attempted to rescue trapped occupants in a three-alarm tenement fire.


  I also remember when Capt John Dunne suffered his fatal injuries. May he Rest in Peace.

  I also want to ask, "did Ladder 107 and Ladder 175 run out of that same firehouse together". Or did Ladder 175 take over when L 107 moved to their new quarters.
 
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E225 & L107 were moved to their new/present house and E332 & L175 moved into their old quarters. Kind of not nice, since the new firehouse was in a less active area back then.
 
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When they were moved the original Members had there choice to stay or to go to the new House......i believe the organization of 332 & 175 was visualized as necessary after the original plans were made to build the Lincoln Av house or they would have made the new house 332/175. 
 

mack

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Per Gman's comments about E 225/L 107 and E 332/L175 activity after move to new firehouse and creation of new companies:
1966 R&W:

1970 R&W:

1971 R&W:

1975 R&W:

1979 R&W:

 
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68jk09 said:
When they were moved the original Members had there choice to stay or to go to the new House......i believe the organization of 332 & 175 was visualized as necessary after the original plans were made to build the Lincoln Av house or they would have made the new house 332/175.
  Thanks, I always wondered why. The Lincoln Ave. firehouse relieved E290/L103 of some long distance 1st due runs.
 
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Mack.....good post of the R&W......big difference between the '66 & '70 numbers for some Companies ......also on the Lincoln Av FH subject .....this FH also added fire protection to the area of New Howard Beach (West of Crossbay Blvd) that was only sparsely populated w/farmhouse's &  factories  in the early '60s & a few years later was fully re-developed w/homes & apt bldgs & stores........before LAD*173 was organized on Crossbay Blvd  & LAD*107 on Lincoln Av the LADs that responded on Crossbay Blvd.as far down as the North Channel Bridge were 142 & 143......long 2nd due runs for 143 from Jamaica Av & 101 St. w/an open wooden aerial.
 

mack

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Engine 29/Bn 1 - former firehouse - 160 Chambers St  (E 29 1897-1947/Bn 1 1912-1915) - Eng 29 disbanded 1947





Engine 29 1920:

Engine 20 1934:


 

mack

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Fire Patrol 3/Fire Patrol 1 - former firehouse - 240 W 30th St - (1894-2006)  NYFP  disbanded 2006







W 17th Street  - October 15, 1949
This second alarm fire had the men of Patrol 3 in the basement of the building.  Not long after their arrival the four story building collapsed, Killed In the Line of Duty -  Patrolmen Daniel P. Shea and Frederick Lehman of Patrol 1.


Wooster Street Collapse - February 14, 1958

Four member of Fire Patrol # 1 placing salvage covers and two FDNY firefighters venting the roof were buried alive when all floors and the roof suddenly collapsed in a burning 6 story, 80x100 foot, heavy timber construction, loft building in "Hells' hundred acres"lower Manhattan. The fire occurred at 2215 hours, in a baled paper storage building located at 137-9 Wooster Street, between West Houston and Prince Street....
FP 1 Killed In The Line Of Duty:
Fire Patrol # 1, Sargent Michael McGee
Fire Patrol # 1, Patrolman Louis Brusati
Fire Patrol # 1, Patrolman James Devine
Fire Patrol # 1, Patrolman Michael Tracey
FF Bernard Blumenthal - Ladder 10
FF William Schimd - Ladder 1





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