FDNY and NYC Firehouses and Fire Companies

[tem217]

the red caps set up a trailer in sunset park on 3 ave around 50 st under the gowanus expy el..didn't last long was torched by the "dirty ones"
..sunset park had two rival gangs the" dirty ones" a local gang from 3 ave and "la familia" on 6 ave which was a gang from the south Bronx..while the Bronx was burning residents were being relocated to sunset park..
these gangs created havoc and kept the 40bn and 72 pct busy.

 

[fdhistorian]

Ladder 60 was planned to be put in service in the new firehouse adjoining Engine 45's house. At the time Ladder 58 was going to remain in the old quarters of Ladder 27. Not only was "Ladder 57" originally on the front of the new fire house for Engine 72, for a while a rig numbered for 57 was actually in their quarters.

Sounds like the original plans came very close to being implemented.  Ladder 57 already had a rig and Ladder 60 might have been the redeployment of Ladder 17-2, which was disbanded in 1974.  Ladder 61 was already in service.  Did any particular circumstance cause the plug to be pulled on this plan?

 

[68jk09]

LAD*107 TURNING OUT FROM OLD QTRS...77 NEW JERSEY AV BET FULTON ST & JAMAICA AV www.ebay.com/itm/1930-WALTER-TRACTOR-1934-WALTER-AERIAL-FIRE-ENGINE-TRUCK-PHOTO-NEW-YORK-FDNY/291136884915?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.RVI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3D6678496294045539488%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D20131017132637%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D291136884915 .....QTRS OF 107 UNTIL 1970 WHEN 107 MOVED TO LINCOLN AV & LINDEN BLVD THEN QTRS OF 175 FROM 1970 TO 1985 WHEN 175 MOVED TO BRADFORD ST BET LIBERTY & ATLANTIC AV'S THEN FIRE MARSHAL'S QTRS FOR AWHILE ........77 NEW JERSEY AV STILL STANDS BUT NOT AS A FH ...MOST OTHER BLDGS ON THE BLOCK ARE GONE TODAY www.vpike.com/?place=77+new+jersey+ave+brooklyn+ny&r=e

 

[mack]

77 New Jersey Avenue former firehouse:

 

[mack]

Engine 91/Engine 91-2/Ladder 43/Division 4/Battalion 25/Salvage2/RAC 1 firehouse 244 E 111th Street  East Harlem

    Engine 91 organized 244 E 111th St                                    1913

    Ladder 43 organized 244 E 111th St at Engine 91                1913
    Ladder 43 moved to 1836 3rd Avenue at Engine 53            1974

    Engine 91-2 organized 244 E 111th St at Engine 91              1916
    Engine 91-2 disbanded                                                      1946
    Engine 91-2 organized 244 E 111th St at Engine 91              1957
    Engine 91-2 disbanded                                                      1958
    Engine 91-2 organized 244 E 111th St at Engine 91              1968
    Engine 91-2 disbanded                                                      1974

    Division 4 located at 244 E 111th St at Engine 91              1949-1956

    Battalion 25 moved to 244 E 211th St at Engine 91              1969
    Battalion 25 disbanded                                                        1989

    Salvage 2 organized 244 E 111th St at Engine 91                  1979
    Salvage 2 disbanded                                                          1991

    Recovery and Care Unit 1 moved to 244 E 111th St at E 91    1998

Note: Firehouse also location of communications unit and fire marshal unit

244 E 111th St:









Engine 91 1913:


Engine 91-2 1930:


Engine 91 1936 Mack:


Engine 91 1989 Mack:


Engine 91:






Engine 91 and RAC 1:


Ladder 43 at 244 E 111th St:


Ladder 43 1933 Walters 75 ft:






Ladder 43 at 244 E 111th St:








Engine 91 quarters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5IyWVIK2SI

Engine 91 Centennial:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/events/2013/061113a.shtml

LODDs RIP:
FF Frederick E Glasser  Engine 91  January 14, 1959

FF Edward M White  Engine 91  June 1, 1962





East Harlem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Harlem

East Harlem History:
http://www.east-harlem.com/index.php/history/

Old Italian East Harlem:
http://italianharlem.com/east-harlem-in-vintage-photos/

 

[68jk09]

Once again mack...nice job....when 91-2 was organized in 1957 the Members came from disbanded ENG*11 on the Lower East Side their FH & everything around it was demolished for projects to be built...i know a FF who was in ENG*11 that went to 91-2....we still communicate via e mail...the '53 ALF was the Rig i rode on as a kid w/my Father .....the '63 Seagrave is the one that tipped over while attempting to bridge the East River Drive to get a line to a Fire on the pier @ 106 St.

 

[mack]

Engine 91 and Engine 91-2 - War Years - Runs and Workers 1966-1975:

 

[mack]

East Harlem - 1970s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr27arA4zpc
Tower ladder at 30 seconds

Harlem 1980s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU1z5SGMdQE

 

[nfd2004]

East Harlem - 1970s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr27arA4zpc
Tower ladder at 30 seconds

Harlem 1980s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU1z5SGMdQE

  They will ever be able to replace those Great Harlem Days or some of those Classic FDNY Firehouses that we have seen here.

 

[1261Truckie]

One of the interesting aspects of attending the 280/132 Centennial last fall was that the house itself was 100 years old, is still a fully functioning firehouse and (Thank God) hasn't been replaced by a newer structure. It is a living history of how buildings were designed and built back then (this is in addition to all the stories, tales, memories and the members past and present who served there). It, like many others in NYC, is a massive brick and stone structure with fine details in the brickwork. The last firehouse I served in (Texas) was a brand new building opened in late 2000. While it had all the amenities, and looked great, it lacked the character of these old houses. Thanks, again, to Mack for all his work in this area and Willie I agree with 100%.

 

[3511]

And the old house of 14 Truck (once known as the "Buffalo's), and later occupied for 30 years by E36, stands idle and vacant on East 125th street...

 

[memory master]

And the old house of 14 Truck (once known as the "Buffalo's), and later occupied for 30 years by E36, stands idle and vacant on East 125th street...

Is 36's old house still standing on Park Avenue?

 

[fdny1075k]

And the old house of 14 Truck (once known as the "Buffalo's), and later occupied for 30 years by E36, stands idle and vacant on East 125th street...

Is 36's old house still standing on Park Avenue?

Negative.

 

[3511]

No, memory, it is not. It came down in the late 1970's, not long after L14 moved to its new digs with E35 and E36 vacated to L14 ' s house. As a commuter at the time on MetroNorth, i watched  36's house come down brick by brick. The property today still has no structure on it but is part of an auto demolition shop or some such business. But you can still the outline of 36's house on the old brick of what was the adjoining building to the south.

And there is a another story here.

My father served in L14 from the early 1930's thru WWII. He'd been retired a few years when I told him that a new firehouse was going to be built on 3d Ave for both E36 and L14. This was the 1970's when the City was broke and they would finance the new construction by the sale of the 2 older houses, both built in the 1880s.

"Can't do that", my dad said immediately. The property for L14 ' s house had been deeded to the city by a wealthy Harlem family of the time for use ONLY as a firehouse. If the city ever changed the use of the property it would revert back to family ownership.

Sure enough, the big Irishman was right. (That SOB was ALWAYS right, except when he argued with my mom.)

Sometime after construction began,  the wizards at City Hall found out they could not sell L14 ' s old house. No firehouse? Back to the family.

Instead,  the city sold E35 ' s house on 119th st and moved 35 into the new quarters with L14. E36 moved around the corner onto 125th st. That's why E's 35 and 36 were located only two blocks from each other for 30 years. And why the house on 125th stands idle and empty.

As the commentator Paul Harvey used to say, "Now you know the rest of the story".

 

[nfd2004]

"3511", that's an interesting story. I always wondered why they would build a firehouse (35/14) so close to Eng 36. Only a few blocks from each other.

 

[guitarman314]

"3511", that's an interesting story. I always wondered why they would build a firehouse (35/14) so close to Eng 36. Only a few blocks from each other.

IMHO, the reason they built the house so close to E36 was they were planning to disband E36. Take a look at how close to E15  they built E17/L18. 

 

[fdhistorian]

No, memory, it is not. It came down in the late 1970's, not long after L14 moved to its new digs with E35 and E36 vacated to L14 ' s house. As a commuter at the time on MetroNorth, i watched  36's house come down brick by brick. The property today still has no structure on it but is part of an auto demolition shop or some such business. But you can still the outline of 36's house on the old brick of what was the adjoining building to the south.

And there is a another story here.

My father served in L14 from the early 1930's thru WWII. He'd been retired a few years when I told him that a new firehouse was going to be built on 3d Ave for both E36 and L14. This was the 1970's when the City was broke and they would finance the new construction by the sale of the 2 older houses, both built in the 1880s.

"Can't do that", my dad said immediately. The property for L14 ' s house had been deeded to the city by a wealthy Harlem family of the time for use ONLY as a firehouse. If the city ever changed the use of the property it would revert back to family ownership.

Sure enough, the big Irishman was right. (That SOB was ALWAYS right, except when he argued with my mom.)

Sometime after construction began,  the wizards at City Hall found out they could not sell L14 ' s old house. No firehouse? Back to the family.

Instead,  the city sold E35 ' s house on 119th st and moved 35 into the new quarters with L14. E36 moved around the corner onto 125th st. That's why E's 35 and 36 were located only two blocks from each other for 30 years. And why the house on 125th stands idle and empty.

As the commentator Paul Harvey used to say, "Now you know the rest of the story".

A friend who retired from Engine 36 in the 1980's, told me the same story.  But if the use could only be a firehouse, how did the city close Engine 36 in 2003?  Is the building technically still a firehouse?  Does that potentially make every vacant, city owned building a firehouse too?

 

[3511]

Gman, the  house  on 3d  Ave that is today 35/14  was planned as 36/14. As busy as east Harlem was in the 70's, there was no intent to close E 36. In fact, with the disbanding of E91-2, E's 35 and 36 were both more critical to  cover East Harlem.

Combining 36 and 14 saved money on utilities and building maintenance. Both houses, only two blocks away from each other were by then almost a century old. (When my father was detailed to from 14 to 36 he actually carried his turnout gear around the corner.) By the 1970's, combining them made fiscal sense. It also moved L14 closer to the north/south avenues to fill the hole left by L43 moving from E91 to new quarters with E53.

Historian, not all firehouse property has the codicil in the deed that it be used only as a firehouse. L14 was one of them. Most houses are built on lots purchased by the City for any purpose. At the time E36 was closed I asked then Fire Commissioner Scopetta about the restriction in the deed and he dismissed it as untrue. Events since have proven him wrong. I am not privy to all the details, but it's almost a decade and the City is still trying to find  way around the deed restrictions to do something with the property.

All they had to do was talk to my ol' man.

My info comes from the chiefs in the 4th Division, including the Deputy, at the time this all went down...and of course, my dad..

 

[68jk09]

Another odd thing was the old quarters of 108 on Siegel St...it was a solid three story FH... not as old as many....... LAD*108 had been there  since 1887....ENG*218 had occupied the FH for ten years before that.....as i said it was still good structurally just needed some heat & elect upgrades....in August of 1971 when we moved to the then new FH on Union Av i would have thought that the City would have planned to sell the bldg & property....a few hours after we moved out there was a small Fire set in some remaining furniture & material that was on the apparatus floor & was to be picked up the following morning.....a week later there was a large Fire set on the third floor....this Fire coupled w/bldg strippers who broke in was the death nell for the bldg & it was soon demolished short of ever reaching 100 years....the lot still remains empty all these years....after we moved a project was built (Borinquen Houses) involving several blocks but it started on the other side of the street & did not involve the FH plot....some of the original adjoining  bldgs on the FH side of Siegel St still remain so why did the FH get relocated & the site never used ?.....guess it was part of some greater plan....in my opinion the move to Union Av cost the Co. some work since in 1971 Bushwick was just taking off Fire wise & we had 2nd Due & 2nd & 3rd Alarm Boxes there that were lost....we still kept some but not all of our Bed Stuy Boxes.....the new area picked up west & north of the Union Av FH did not match up workwise to what was lost....JMO.....the Union Av FH being w/the 90 PCT was an improvement in the respect that Siegel St was a very tough block w/little respect shown to FFs or our personal property ....we will never know how things would have played out had we not moved......in the latest V Pike shot you can see that blue tarp has been added to the fence so maybe something is finally happening forty three years later....the FH was on the right half of the lot & a small but deep 1 story warehouse was on the left half....this warehouse was just demolished recently......  http://www.vpike.com/?place=112+siegel+st+brooklyn+ny&submit=Street+View&r=e      .....for some pictures of the FH back when (Thanks to mack) go back to page #39 of this thread reply # 574 (wish i could go back in time as easily).

 

[nfd2004]

Chief JK, many of us on here wish we could go back in time. The FDNY Firehouse thread here has helped us to do that. There is so much to it for those that are interested in the subject. You're right, thanks to mack for bringing this subject to us. And thanks to all the others who have contributed to it. The pictures, the stories, in some cases are all that exist on the history of the Greatest Fire Department in the World.

  Because this means so much to me personally, I have backed this thread up on a thing called a "scan disk". I'm doing the same thing with "My Younger Buff Years". I don't know too much about this high tech equipment but it sells for about $13-$15.00, I only know it works if there is ever a problem with the site. Such was the case on another fire dept web site. Invaluable photos and stories were written about Bridgeport, Cts busy years. The site crashed and the info was lost. But because of that backup scan disk thing, I still have it.

  Some of this information to me, is just too valuable to loose if it ever happened.