New York City Fire Department

The FDNY ideology of aggressive interior fire attack grew naturally out of the building and population density that characterize the city.

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The contribution of and Italian Americans to the FDNY dates back to the formation of the paid fire department. During the Civil War, New York's Irish and Italian firefighters were the backbone of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (New York Fire Zouaves), a highly decorated unit.^[56]

Irish

Members of the FDNY have the nickname "New York's Bravest."

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Members of the FDNY EMS have the nickname "New York's Best."

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In addition to firefighting, technical rescue, and , FDNY stations ambulances throughout the city, and supplies paramedics and EMTs.

hazardous materials mitigation

Telephone alarms are the most common method of contacting the fire department. A telephone alarm is an alarm in which a civilian uses a telephone to dial one of three types of numbers: The first is , which is answered by New York City Police Department (NYPD) operators. The NYPD operators will then transfer the call to a fire department communications office. The second involves dialing "0" which routes the call to a telephone company operator, who then transfers the call to the fire dispatchers in the proper borough dispatch office. The third is a special seven-digit telephone number, which is published in each borough for the specific purpose of reporting fires. This number is a direct contact to a particular borough's fire department communications dispatch office.

9-1-1

Fire alarm boxes are the second most common method of contacting the fire department. FDNY are located on certain street corners and in certain public buildings, such as schools and hospitals, as well as along highways, on bridges, etc. These boxes primarily consist of two types: The first is the mechanical box (also commonly called a pull-box or a telegraph box), in which a spring-wound mechanism alternately opens and closes an electrical circuit, thereby rendering a coded number linked to the specific location of the box. Until the advent of the Starfire "Computer-Assisted Dispatch System" (CADS), dispatchers had to audibly count the taps from mechanical boxes when they were received in the central offices to decipher the number of the box that was pulled. Today, a "Box Alarm Readout System" (BARS) display handles that aspect of the job; The second type is the "Emergency Reporting System" (ERS) box that is equipped with buttons to notify either the FDNY or the NYPD, allowing either department's dispatcher to have direct voice communication with the reporting party. Beginning in the 1970s, ERS boxes started to replace mechanical boxes in many areas of the city, particularly where the number of false alarms involving mechanical boxes were high. In December 1994, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and then-Fire Commissioner Howard Safir began a concerted effort to remove all of the mechanical and ERS boxes throughout New York City in a cost-cutting move. Facing stiff opposition from members of the city council, community groups, dispatchers, and others, the move was blocked by court order as being discriminatory against the disabled (i.e., particularly the speech- and/or hearing-impaired) who—along with the poor—might otherwise have no dependable way to report fires and emergencies if the alarm boxes were eliminated. (In addition, unlike many other cities in the world, it was noted that 117 different languages and dialects are spoken by the residents of and visitors to the city. Since, unlike telephones, a fire alarm box requires no verbal contact to indicate its exact location, a person would not have to be able to speak—at all—or to understand English in order to alert the FDNY or NYPD to a fire or other emergency. For this reason, as well, the boxes were recognized as being vital to New Yorkers' safety.) The court order to block the removal of the boxes provided a means for people to report emergencies during the 2003 blackout, when other forms of communication were cut off. The fire alarm boxes, independent of outside power, continued to function the entire time.^[61]

fire alarm boxes

"Class 3" alarms are less common than the first two means of reporting fires. A "Class 3" alarm is one of three numerical classes of alarms given by the FDNY's Bureau of Communications to alert the fire department to automatic fire alarm systems, which are routed through commercial alarm companies. These firms monitor sprinkler systems, standpipes, smoke detectors, and internal pull-stations in non-public occupancies, such as: factories, warehouses, stores, and office buildings. When alarms are received from such accounts, these companies pass along the information to the FDNY central offices, usually by dedicated telephone circuits. The term "Class 3" was derived from the fact that the box number on such an assignment card would have a "3" preceding it, in addition to a "terminal" following it (e.g., "3-7012-4" would indicate a private alarm system in a commercial occupancy at a specific address, in the immediate vicinity of Box 7012, on the corner of Review Avenue and Laurel Hill Boulevard in Queens). In such cases, the type of alarm (e.g., sprinkler, smoke detector, interior pull-station, etc.) and an exact address—and, often, even a specific section of a building—would instantly be made available to responding units.)

Verbal alarms are the least common means of reporting fires or emergencies, and generally involves civilians "verbally" making such reports directly to firehouses or fire companies. This can include incidents that are observed by fire units themselves when they are away from their quarters. However, "verbal" alarms may also be reported by EMS Bureau personnel, NYPD personnel, chief officers, Department officials (e.g., commissioners, medical officers, chaplains, et al.), or civilian employees of the FDNY (e.g., communications electricians, mechanics, dispatchers, etc.), who observe fires or emergencies in the course of the performance of their duties. If a fire company is available in quarters, it will immediately respond to the incident after advising the dispatchers of the same via telephone, voice alarm, or radio. If the unit is away from its firehouse (e.g., responding to or operating at another alarm, on inspection duty, etc.) at the time, the company will either stop at the new incident and operate, or the officer will request a separate assignment (as the reporting unit is unavailable to operate). Based on the information received by the dispatchers, the appropriate action (e.g., transmitting a new box, etc.) is initiated in regard to the new incident.

Rescue Company No. 1 serves below 125th St. on the West Side, and below 116th St. on the East Side. Rescue 1's quarters are located at 530 W. 43rd St. in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Midtown, Manhattan.

Manhattan

Rescue Company No. 2 serves central and northwestern , not including parts of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Rescue 2's quarters are located at 1815 Sterling Pl. in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Brooklyn

Rescue Company No. 3 serves the and Harlem above 125th St. on the West Side, and above 116th St. on the East Side. Rescue 3's quarters are located at 1655 Washington Ave. in the Claremont neighborhood of the Bronx.

Bronx

Rescue Company No. 4 serves , and parts of northern of Brooklyn. Rescue 4 is quartered with Engine 292 at 64–18 Queens Blvd. in the Woodside neighborhood of Queens.

Queens

Rescue Company No. 5 serves and parts of southern Brooklyn. Rescue 5 is quartered with Engine 160, TSU 2, and the Chief of the 8th Division at 1850 Clove Rd., in the Grasmere neighborhood of Staten Island.

Staten Island

Collapse of the World Trade Center

Communication during the September 11, 2001 attacks

Great Fire of New York (1776)

Great Fire of New York (1835)

Great Fire of New York (1845)

(2005)

Black Sunday (NYC, FDNY)

List of New York fire departments

New York City Fire Department Bureau of EMS

New York City Fire Commissioner

New York Fire Patrol

New York City Fire Department Rescue Company 1

(OATH), for hearings conducted on certain summonses issued by FDNY

New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings

Rossville Fire of 1963

Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11, 2001 attacks

a 1978 blaze that killed six firefighters.

Waldbaum's supermarket fire

. NYC Open Data; Socrata. New York City Fire Department. September 10, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2019.

"FDNY Firehouse Listing – Location of Firehouses and companies"

Official website

in the Rules of the City of New York

Fire Department

FDNY objects in the Online Collections Database, Staten Island Historical Society

Pre-1865 Fire Department Company Names and Locations