During my time in "The Job" I Never knew of
any FDNY Unit responding Via New Jersey To Staten Island. Two units I worked in Engine 27 as a firefighter and Engine 26 as a Captain, relocated to Staren Island mainly due to multiple brush fires on the same day. When we relocated, we used the Verrazzano Bridge to reach Staten Island. On Multiple alarms in Staten Island, Brooklyn Units are assigned to relocate to Staten Island.
Often if I becomes a major multiple alarm fire the Brooklyn and sometime Manhattan Unit relocated to Staten Island can be, and often are sent, to the fire/s. I remember once, with my unit Engine 26, while being relocated to Staten Island being called by the Staten Island Dispatcher, upon exiting the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, in Red Hook Brooklyn, and changing our radio to Staten Island Frequency, to respond directly to a multiple alarm in Staten Island. Special Box assignments Do exist to have Manhattan Units, relocate or respond via. The Holland and Lincoln Tunnels through New Jersey to one of the bridges between New Jersey and Staten Island. At one time Special Box assignments existed to have Manhattan FDNY units respond or relocate to Staten Island via the Manhattan-Staten Island Ferry. Generally, any one N.Y.C. Borough can support up to and including a 5th Alarm, if needed. Reserve and Spare apparatus can be activated to help in very major situations, hurricanes, even unusual very large fires or numbers of fires. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired