Long before the internet, text messaging, online radio activity, or even pagers, for guys that were fire buffs, the only way to find out if there was a job going on was either hear it on the local scanner or a buddy calls to tell you about it. In my case, being 120 miles from NYC, I would usually hear about a big job going on for the FDNY from either my brother or a buddy of mine living in Bridgeport, Ct and close enough to hear it on the scanner. In turn, I could pick up Hartford and Providence, sometimes Boston (at that time on 33.74 MHz, same as our own fire dept second channel). So I would call them about a job there. And that's the way we did it.
About once a month or so, I would get a few newsletters in the mail. One I used to get was from Newark, NJ that was published by a Newark FD dispatcher named Hank P. One was called "The Wagon Pipe Newsletter" on the Washington, D.C. and area departments. Another one was published by a Hartford, Ct firefighter, named Keith V., called "The Alarm Room Newsletter". Every month, "The Alarm Room Newsletter" would give a list of the jobs for the previous month in most areas of Connecticut. It listed the address, companies that responded, and where the fire was located such as first floor, fully involved etc. It would also list any new fire apparatus or fire radio frequency changes. I still have many of those Alarm Room Newsletters in my collection.
And that's where site member "fdhistorian" comes in. "fdhistorian", back then, played a key role in helping to publish that Alarm Room Newsletter. But it goes much further than that. He teamed up with a guy by the name of Ron Mattes. Ron Mattes had interviewed several retired members of departments going back to as early as the 1920s. Through those interviews and with the work of "fdhistorian" of this site, they were able to publish a large book of almost 500 pages. It was called; "The American Fire Services Directory" in 1983. Every single career and county fire department in the U.S.A. and Canada was listed in that book. It listed every firehouse location and the companies assigned there. It also listed companies that had been closed. "I know that because I ordered that book back in 1983". I had never seen anything like it.
I used that book to buff more than a dozen cities. I used it to get rig shots from many of these cities. I used it to locate every firehouse in Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Ct. I used it to locate every firehouse in Yonkers, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, NY. For the larger cities of Massachusetts such as Boston, Chelsea, Cambridge, Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford, Worcester and Springfield. In New Jersey it was Camden, Newark, Jersey City, Elizabeth, and Paterson.
The first year I had that book, my wife and I planned a trip to L.A. City and L.A. County Fire Departments. That book showed me where every firehouse was and which firehouse had a ladder truck, tanker, paramedic unit, or brush truck, and where I could find the fire department helicopter and bull dozers used during major brush fires.
Other vacations showed me every single firehouse in Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, Pa., Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and my first trip to Fairfax County, Va. I believe I still have pictures of rigs from every one of those departments that I took during that time.
I considered that book the "Buffs Bible". And interesting in that after corresponding a few times through PMs here, "fdhistorian", says he remembers when I ordered that book over 30 years ago. I sure wish I still had it.
"fdhistorian" also told me that he spent 5-6 years with Prince Georges County, Md Station 34 while going to school there. They were doing roughly 4,000 calls a year at that time.
Today, "fdhistorian" edits the "staffing page" for Billy Goldfeders "Close Calls" web site. He also sometimes is the "Wake Up Guy" for site member "Patrickfd", to take in a job in the Hartford area as the assigned "Photo Unit" there. And you can find some of that work on Pat Ds web site at
www.squadfirephotos.smugmug.com
Finally, it is a honor to add my long time friend, I call "JohnnyD", to the Grandpa list. Both John and myself shared memories of our days as Volunteer firefighters assigned to Fairfield, Ct Fire Station 3 and FDNY buff stories of Brooklyn and the Bronx back in the early 1970s. Today "johnd248" has a son who is a career Lt in the Fairfield Fire Department.
"Johnd248" was also a former Auxiliary firefighter with the FDNY in the Boro of Brooklyn, during their busy War Years.
