My younger Buff years

[nfd2004]

Here is one of those memories of the FDNY War Years we don't see happen too much anymore. The radio message to the Bronx C.O. might go something like this;

  "Battalion 17 to the Bronx, on Box ####, we have a vacant five brick, 100 x 100, with fire on all floors and throughout". "At this time, we have one line stretched and operating". "We will be using ALL HANDS as soon as you can free up some companies". "Fire is doubtful at this time, with no special units required".

  Today, we might look at this picture posted below and actually think it's kind of funny. But the sad reality is that this actually did happen. There were times when only one company would show up, because everybody else was working a fire elsewhere in the neighborhood. At times there would be occupied building fires with the same response. Because there just wasn't any companies in the area to respond.

  Here is exactly the kind of thing we are talking about. The FDNY War Years Members did whatever they could and were stretched beyond their limits. Just an example of why I consider them to be the Greatest Generation of Firefighters ever.

  Here is the picture that tells the story a lot better than I can. www.flickr.com/photos/9772325@N04/2303031480/in/album-2157600793649878/ (from the collection of Paulv2c).

  Don't worry Mike, aka "mikeindabronx",  "we love yours too".    www.fdnybravest.com

 

[nfd2004]

It was the South Bronx in 1982. The Fire Storm that had swept most of the area during the previous 10 - 15 years was slowing down. Mainly because there just wasn't anything left to burn and everybody was gone.

  But other areas of the city were still burning. The area known as the WEST Bronx was starting to take off with fire activity. Harlem, Washington Heights, the Lower East Side, Brownsville, Bushwick, Bed Sty, and Williamsburg were all still burning. Although not at the pace of the FDNY WAR YEARS of the late 60s and 70s. Jamaica Queens was starting to see an increase of fire duty. FDNY Fire Marshalls, called "Red Caps", were on the streets trying to stem the tide.

  It was feared that the rest of the city would soon become a wasteland such as the South Bronx from the fire activity that was seen there. The South Bronx had been referred to as "The Arson Capital of the World". People were considering the South Bronx a Third World Country. Would other parts of New York City become another South Bronx ? Some areas got pretty close.

  The video below is all that is left to show what those FDNY War Years Firefighters did. A once highly populated area of large apartment buildings, stores and businesses were now gone. In the 10 or 15 years of heavy fire duty this is what it looked like in 1982.

  ! No longer available

 

[nfd2004]

On my computer it says that the video posted above is "no longer available". I clicked on that and the video came up. So if you wanted to see what parts of the South Bronx looked like after 10-15 years of the FDNY War Years, you can still see it in that video.

"mack" and I were recently discussing this period of time during those so called War Years. As a young fire buff, it was the time to be around. Fires were just a normal routine part of life in many of the NYC neighborhoods.

Things were much different then. It really didn't take too much to be able to ride with a busy company. And if your father was on the job, it was a young buffs dream come true. "mack" was one of those young guys whose father was a member of the FDNY.

Most of us believe that the War Years started during the riots of the 60s. Many major cities throughout the country saw riots which led to looting and burning. NYC of course was no exception.

Fires also became a way of landlords getting their profits from insurance payments. Fires were set in revenge as a way of getting back at someone. And also fires were set as a form of entertainment for some neighborhood residents, just looking for a little excitement. Even becoming a gang member might have required setting a building on fire as part of joining the group.

  For guys like "mack" and myself, it was the perfect time to be around.

  During these War Years, the FDNY wanted to set up a plan to deal with these riots and fires that would accompany them. It would be necessary to bring companies into these areas along with members of the NYPD to respond with a group of FDNY units. "mack's" father around this time might have been a battalion chief. He was responsible for writing up a plan to deal with these riot conditions. I believe it was All Units Circular 138, which included many pages within this AUC.

  Terms like Command Post Companies, and Fire Control Teams, had entered the FDNY. In order for the chief to get a better feel of the communications needed at such events, he would conduct drills and ride in a car to all jobs in which Field Com was responding. Many times his son, "mack" would ride in the Field Comm Unit. As a buff it was the place to be.

  There were TWO Field Comm Units.
  Field Comm 1 out of Engine 59 in Manhattan (covering Manhattan and the Bronx)
  Field Comm 2 out of Engine 259 in Queens    (covering Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island).

  With fires burning all over the city and a field comm unit responding on all confirmed all hands fires, they were very busy units. At times, they would be assigned from one fire to another. On a hot summer night, they might not ever get back to quarters. For a guy like "mack", it was the place to be. And for a period of time, his father was in the car right behind him responding also.

 

[soda-acid]

Field Comm. 1 responded out of Engine 39 in Manhattan, not Engine 59.

 

[nfd2004]

Around Christmas, in 1975 or 1976 (?), I remember making a trip down to the South Bronx to my usual buffing spot around 82/31. I made that trip just before Christmas and I remember seeing a lone Christmas tree sitting among the piles of bricks and debris with a few ornaments hanging on it.

  I don't remember the street it was on, but somebody had decorated that tree in the middle of the burned out block. At the time I was down there with another friend and I remember saying to him; "how long do you think that will last before the ornaments are all stolen and the tree burned". Of course we didn't think too long, but we rode by it just before we made our trip home about 2 am and it was still there.

We went back the next week, and that tree was still there - "Untouched". All the ornaments in tack and nothing burned. We couldn't believe it. Everything else around it was a burned out shell, but that tree still stood there.

  I learned a lesson that year. I learned that miracles did not only happen on 34th St in Manhattan (as the movie - "Miracle on 34th St"). But that year a miracle happened on some burned out street in the South Bronx too.

 

[CFDMarshal]

Willy, You are repeating yourself!

 

[nfd2004]

Willy, You are repeating yourself!

I changed a few words from the original post. Did you catch it ???

 

[guitarman314]

Willy, You are repeating yourself!

I changed a few words from the original post. Did you catch it ???

  REPEATING YOURSELF is a sign of Old Age ;D

 

[johnd248]

NO ONE knows Old Age better than Willy D.

 

[nfd2004]

The other day I was talking to one of those WAR Years Firefighters of the FDNY. It amazes me some of the stories they have to tell. What a time it was for fire activity. One such story I was recently told was from a South Bronx firefighter. He told me one night he was working and there were FIVE (5) relocated companies to the same firehouse. I think it was Engine 73 he was referring to. So five sections of Engine 73 added as Engine 73-1, Eng 73-2, Eng 73-3, Eng 73-4 and Engine 73 - 5th Section. At one point in that night, ALL FIVE relocated companies, plus the original Engine 73 were all operating at fires. That's how busy it was. I wasn't there that night, but I can remember being there with two or three jobs in the same area and picking which one to take in as a buff.

  The other day, a good friend of mine who is a Lt on the job here in Connecticut contacted me to say he was in NYC with his two nephews. They were buffing and they stopped into a firehouse. He told me those guys treated them GREAT. He said his two nephews had never been to a NYC firehouse and they were really impressed. I guess the guys took some time to explain to them about some of the equipment and how things work. Of course these two younger kids also want to get on the job, whether it is the FDNY or elsewhere.

  It reminded me of the first few times I brought their uncle down there who is now a Lt and into the job as well. He credits the FDNY all the time for teaching him so much. You just learn by watching. Of course I felt the same way.

  Now we have anther entire generation being broken into the FDNY. This is now the third generation of buffs and firefighters from Connecticut since "My Younger Buff Days" started. It started out as an invitation to Rescue 2 back in 1968. Then chasing some fires in Harlem and into the South Bronx. That is now being passed on to our future firefighters. The younger kids who don't do drugs, try to stay out of trouble and just want to learn. Just like most of us in the past, they just want to learn from "The Greatest Fire Department in the World" - The FDNY. 

 

[svd385]

squad 2 would also alternate calls with engine 73 up until 1979

 

[nfd2004]

squad 2 would also alternate calls with engine 73 up until 1979

That is correct Steve. In fact the member who told me that, was assigned to Squad 2. So in reality, the number of fires could be even higher.

You (svd385) and I, along with other members here, know that we are not lying. It was unbelievable then, but it's even more unbelievable now.

 

[Atlas]

For awhile, Sq 2 also responded from other Eng co qtrs during the busy hours. Remember Eng 82 had Eng 85, but that did not help too much. Eng 94 had Eng 513 while Eng 45 had Eng 512 & later on Sq. 1. Sq. 5 moved in with E41 after E-41-2 was disbanded. Eng 50 had a second secion. Eng 46's second section became E-88-2 & later on Eng 72. Sq. 1 responded from E-46 former quarters on East 176 St before moving to E-45's station. And don't forget that E-85 did respond from E-82's quarters before moving to the 'Tin House'. Manning on these units were 1 & 6.

Yes, there were nights that 82 might have had a lot more then 5 sections and at time none were in service for other workers.

 

[nfd2004]

For awhile, Sq 2 also responded from other Eng co qtrs during the busy hours. Remember Eng 82 had Eng 85, but that did not help too much. Eng 94 had Eng 513 while Eng 45 had Eng 512 & later on Sq. 1. Sq. 5 moved in with E41 after E-41-2 was disbanded. Eng 50 had a second secion. Eng 46's second section became E-88-2 & later on Eng 72. Sq. 1 responded from E-46 former quarters on East 176 St before moving to E-45's station. And don't forget that E-85 did respond from E-82's quarters before moving to the 'Tin House'. Manning on these units were 1 & 6.

Yes, there were nights that 82 might have had a lot more then 5 sections and at time none were in service for other workers.

  Thanks "Atlas". That is an amazing story in itself. The fact that all those companies operating within a few square miles shows just how busy things really were with the amount of fire activity going on.

 

[guitarman314]

  I remember buffing during the late 60's & early 70's. Some firehouses became staging areas like: 46(2)/27(2), 88(2)/38, 82/85/31, 94/48, 50(2)/19, 73/Sq2/42 and 60/17(2) in the Bronx and Harlem had 58/26(2), 91(2)/43, 59/30, 37/40 and 69/28. You would see apparatus parked along the street and it was non-stop action.

 

[68jk09]

BKLYN's big staging area back then was outside Watkins St 231..232..120..44-1..44-2....more modern day the Qtrs of R-2 have been used since the Crown Heights riots in '91 & annually during the West Indian Day Parade on Labor Day.

 

[*******]

The city did everything it could to prevent the unions demanding additional companies. To keep the wri numbers down 82 had mandatory (forced) interchange every second night tour (E295/297) with Sq.2 running first up for 82 from 1900 to 0100 the nights in-between. 31 truck even was removed second due on 20 or so busy boxes and put on the second alarm, with the 2nd alarm truck assigned 2nd due on the box. With the high activity additional time was lost as the 2nd due truck passed 82/31's qtrs. responding, buildings and lives sacrificed at times for dollars. Again, as told by a Deputy that the boro had received orders from "downtown" that to reduce companies responding a second alarm could not/would not be transmitted for a vacant building fire. A few days later we had a fire on 4 floors of a vacant H three blocks from 82's qtrs. We knocked down fire in the apartments on the 2nd to 4th floors. When I went up to the 5th floor I saw we had fire in two apartments. My guys had had it. I told them "put the line down and come down to the street with me." The same deputy was at the box. I told him that " we knocked down fires on the 2nd-4th floors, you have fire in two apartments and the cockloft, My guys have had it and either give us relief and R and R or we are tapping out." We got the R and R, walked back to the firehouse. Fire went to a 3rd if I remember right, that ended the no additional alarms for vacants. The best of times, the men of the FDNY, the worst of times, the South Bronx bugs, junkies, criminals, and the city.

 

[mikeindabronx]

*******, Chief, thanks for the post

 

[fdny1075k]

Thanks for posting that story, Chief.

 

[nfd2004]

Today the so called "FDNY War Years" are over. In the almost 1,600 replies here, many have tried to describe what it was like. I don't really think that there was ever anything else to compare it to here in America. The blocks after blocks and the miles after miles of total destruction of the largest U.S. city in America. And it was all from fires. It was often compared to the War Zone of bombed out Germany during World War II.

  Right in the middle of it was these FDNY War Years Firefighters. You had to see it to believe it for yourself. It was an everyday occurrence to see fires burning in buildings across many parts of New York City. It was on a huge magnitude throughout many parts of the city.

  What those War Years Firefighters did was nothing short of amazing. It even amazed other firefighters from many busy cities throughout the U.S. Of course today, some 40 or so years later, many of those "FDNY WAR YEARS Firefighters" are retired. Some are sick and as we know, some have passed on. Each one with hundreds of stories to tell.

  The entire fire service should never forget these guys. Not just the members of the FDNY, but every firefighter today. Those guys worked day after day, year after year, under the toughest conditions that any firefighters have ever had to face. "I know I won't forget them". And I know all the guys that went down to buff the FDNY with me at some point in their life, won't forget them either. Some of those firefighters catching their own share of War Years Fires. Many of those "OTHER WAR YEARS Firefighters" retired now of course. Yet after all these years that have past, those firefighter/buffs still talk about what it was like then in many parts of NYC. And these are guys who themselves fought hundreds of fires.