The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of New
York (FDNY) has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and
property of New York City's five boroughs from fires
and fire hazards, as well as providing first response to biological,
chemical and radioactive hazards.
The FDNY is the largest municipal Fire Department in the United
States with 16,000 personnel and it faces an extraordinarily varied
challenge. In addition to responding to building types that range from wood
frame to high-rise, there are the many bridges and tunnels needed to move a
large commuter population into and out of the city as well as the largest subway
system in the United States. These challenges add yet another level of
firefighting complexity. Old wiring in subway tunnels (as well as in older
buildings) is occasionally the cause of fires. A scarcity of water for drinking
and fighting fires ultimately resulted in the transition of Brooklyn from
separate city into a borough of NYC. The city, by then had developed a vast
up-state feeder system to slake the growing city's thirst.[ The
F.D.N.Y. derives its name from the Tweed
Charter which created the Fire Department of the City of New York.
This is in contrast to most other fire departments in the U.S. where the name of
the city precedes the word fire department.
The New York City Fire Department traces its roots back to 1648 when the first fire ordinance
was adopted in what then was the Dutch settlement of New
Amsterdam. Hooks, ladders and buckets were financed through the collection
of fines for dirty chimneys, and a fire
watch was established consisting of eight wardens which were drawn from the
male population. An organization known as the prowlers but given the
nickname the rattle watch patrolled the streets with buckets, ladders and
hooks from nine in the evening until dawn looking for fires. 250 leather shoe
buckets were manufactured by local dutch shoemakers in 1658, and these bucket
brigades can be regarded as the beginning of the New York Fire
Department.
In 1664 New
Amsterdam became a British settlement and
was renamed New
York. The first New York fire brigade entered
service in 1731
equipped with two hand-drawn pumpers which had been transported from London, England. These two
pumpers formed Engine Company 1 and Engine Company 2. These were the first fire
engines to be used in the American colonies, and all able-bodied citizens
were required respond to a fire alarm and to participate in the extinguishing
under the supervision of the Aldermen.
As the city continued to expand, the General Assembly formed the Volunteer
Fire Department of the City of New York in December of 1737. It required the participation
of every sober and discreet man to be ready for service day and night, and to be
industrious, diligent and vigilant. Following the American Revolution
the department was reorganized and incorporated under the name Fire Department
of the City of New York (FDNY).
Initially, the paid fire service only covered New York City (present day Manhattan),
until the act of 1865 which united Brooklyn with New York to form
the Metropolitan District. The same year the fire department consisted of 13
Chief Officers and 552 Company Officers and firemen. The officers and firemen
worked a continuous tour of duty, with 3 hours a day off for meals and one day
off a month, and were paid salaries according to their rank or grade. 1865 also
saw the first adoption of regulations, although they were fairly strict and
straitlaced.
Following several large fires in 1866 which resulted in excessive
fire losses and a rise in insurance rates, the fire department was reorganized
under the command of General Alexander
Schaler, and with military discipline
the paid department reached its full potential which resulted in a general
reduction in fire losses. In 1870 the merit system of promotion
in the Fire Department was established.
Westchester County
(which would later become the Bronx) was annexed by New York in
1874 and the
volunteers there were phased out and replaced by the paid department. The
borough of Queens
became a part of New York in 1887, and here also the volunteers
began to be replaced by the paid department. (The last volunteer unit in the
Bronx disbanded in 1928 and the last volunteer units
in Queens disbanded in 1929.)
On January
1, 1898 the
different areas of New York were consolidated, which ushered the Fire Department
into a new era. All the fire forces in the various sections were brought under
the unified command of the first Commissioner in the history of the Fire
Department. This same year Richmond
(now Staten Island) became a
part of the City of New York, but the volunteers units there remained in place
until they were gradually replaced by paid units in 1915, 1928, 1932 and 1937 when only two volunteers units
remained.
The unification of the Fire Department, which took place in 1898, would pave
the way for many changes. In 1909 the Fire Department received
its first piece of motorized fire engine. On March 25, 1911 a fire in the Triangle
Shirtwaist Company killed 146 workers, most of whom where young female
immigrants. Later the same year the fire
college was formed to train new fire fighters, and in 1912 the Bureau
of Fire Prevention was created.
In 1919 the Uniformed
Firefighters Association was formed. Tower
ladders and Superpumpers
were introduced in 1965; other technical advances
included the introduction of high pressure water systems, the creation of a
Marine fleet, adoption of vastly improved working conditions and the utilization
of improved radio communications. In 1982 the first female fire fighter joined
the ranks of the Fire Department, and in 1997 emergency medical services came
under the control of the FDNY.
At the beginning of the 21st the New York City Fire Department had
expanded together with the city and now protects more than eight million
residents and an area of 320 square miles. The FDNY is administered by the Fire
Commissioner, who in turn is appointed by and responsible to the Mayor.
The uniformed force consists of more than 11,400 Fire Officers and fire fighters
under the command of the Chief of Department. The New York City Fire Department
also includes 2,800 Emergency
Medical Technicians, Paramedics and Supervisors
assigned to the Bureau
of Emergency Medical Service (EMS), and 1,200 civilian employees.
On September
11, 2001 terrorists associated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger
aircraft and used these as weapons in order to attack targets in New
York and Washington,
DC during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Two aircraft,
American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were flown by the
terrorists into the twin towers of the World Trade
Center, causing massive damage both during impact, when
the jet fuel was consumed by fire, and finally when the buildings
collapsed.
New York City firefighters were deployed to the World Trade Center minutes
after the first aircraft struck the north tower. Chief Brass set up a command
center in the lobby as firefighters climbed up the stairs. A mobile command
center was also set-up outside on Vesey Street, but was destroyed when the
buildings collapsed. A command post was then set-up at a firehouse in Greenwich Village. The
FDNY deployed 200 units to the site, with more than 400 firefighters on the
scene when the buildings collapsed.[2]
Many firefighters arrived at the World Trade Center without meeting at the
command centers. Problems with radio communication caused commanders to lose
contact with many of the firefighters who went into the buildings; those
firefighters were unable to hear evacuation orders. There was practically no
communication with the police, who had helicopters at the scene. When the towers
collapsed, hundreds were killed or trapped within. 343 of the FDNY firefighters
and paramedics who responded to the attacks on September 11, 2001 lost their
lives, and others were injured. The casualties included First Deputy
Commissioner William M. Feehan and
Chief of Department Peter
Ganci.
Meanwhile, average response times to fires elsewhere in the city that day
only rose by one minute, to 5.5 minutes. Many of the surviving fire fighters
continued to work alternating 24-hour shifts. Firefighters and EMT's came from
hundreds of miles around New York City, including numerous volunteer units in
Upstate New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The NJ State First Aid Council
which represents Volunteer First Aid and Rescue Squads also reported that
hundreds of the Councils' ambulances and rescue personnel also went to Ground
Zero.
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks the Fire
Department has rebuilt itself and continues to serve the people of New York.
During the 2003 North American blackout the FDNY was called
on to rescue hundreds of people from stranded elevators in approximately 800
Manhattan high-rise office and apartment buildings. The entire fire department
was called in to handle the many fires which resulted, reportedly from people
using candles for light.
- The FDNY ideology of aggressive fire attack grew naturally out of
the building and population density that characterize the city. It is this
time honored tradition that saves countless lives every year.
- The contribution of Irish
Americans to the FDNY dates back to the formation of the
paid fire department. During the Civil War New York's Irish firefighters were
the backbone of the New
York Fire Zouaves (or 11th
New York Volunteer Infantry), a highly decorated
unit.
- In addition to firefighting, rescue and HAZMAT,
FDNY stations ambulances
throughout the city and supplies paramedics
and EMTs.
Together with ambulances run by certain participating hospitals and private
companies, it is known as the FDNY EMS Command, which is the largest
pre-hospital care provider in the world, responding to over 1.3 million calls
each year. All of the FDNY EMS Command members are also trained to the
HAZMAT
Awareness level. Some EMS units are trained to the Haz Mat Technician level
allowing them to provide emergency medical care and decontamination in a
hazardous environment, in addition to their normal 911
duties.
- Members of the FDNY have the nickname "New York's
Bravest".
- Members of the FDNY EMS have the nickname "New York's
Best".
Fire calls for 2005
For the period 1 January 2005, to 31 December 2005 the FDNY dealt
with the following number of calls:
- Structural fires: 28,455
- Non-structural fires: 22,940
- Non-fire emergencies: 199,643
- Medical emergencies: 202,526
- Malicious false alarms: 32,138
There were 3362 serious fires in 2005, defined as those declared 'all
hands' or above in severity, response times to incidents were roughly between
four and a half, and five and a half minutes from the time of call.
Of the FDNY's 11,600 uniformed members, there are about 620
Hispanics,
or 5.4%, and about 330 blacks - fewer than 3%. The department has 30 women
members and about 70 Asians. The federal government is investigating the FDNY
for possible discrimination in its hiring practices.
Emergency Medical
Service
The provision of emergency medical services in New York City is
the largest public, non-profit ambulance partnership in the world. Every day the
members of FDNY EMS answer about 3500 calls for help. That is about 1.3 million
a year. Although EMS is controlled and dispatched by the Fire Department,
approximately half of the emergency 911 ambulances in the system are provided by the non-profit hospitals in New
York City. Although some hospitals have provided emergency ambulances for over
125 years, since the 1990s, dozens of hospitals have joined the 911 system, with many
subcontracting actual ambulance operations to private ambulance
providers.
Care is provided at three distinct levels: Certified First
Responder engine companies, staffed by firefighters providing first aid, CPR, and defibrillation; Emergency Medical Technicians-level (EMT)
ambulances, whose 2 EMTs provide first aid, defibrillation, and limited
medication administration; and Paramedic ambulances, whose 2 paramedics provide
critical care. Each level of response is divided into overlapping grids, with
the closest FDNY first responder engine company responding to life-threatening
emergencies, and the appropriate level of ambulance responding.
FDNY's EMS workers are not firefighters, but civilian employees
with "uniformed status" (which is currently the subject of litigation.)
They do not have the same salary, benefits, or pension as firefighters and
belong to a separate union. In addition, EMS crews do not spend down time in
firehouses or their base stations, rather, ambulances sit at their predesignated
cross street location - known as a CSL, for the duration of their
tour.
While EMT's and paramedics work well professionally with the
firefighters of New York City, there have been occasional "culture clashes"
between EMS and Fire, for instance, a plan in 2006 to move ambulances into a
firehouse in Queens drew an outcry from both the unions of the firefighters and
EMS workers and was ultimately scrapped by the city. This is due to several
factors, the relative little attention paid to the sacrifices and achievements
of EMS workers by the public in relation to that paid to firefighters, the
increased danger of a firefighter's duties versus that of an EMS worker's, as
well as the separate mindset that each respective job entails; firefighters must
operate as a team and strictly and swiftly execute the orders they are given by
their officers to achieve their goals, while EMT's and paramedics are expected
to act overall independently without a great deal, if any, direct supervision or
direction.
NYC EMS was originally operated by the city's Health & Hospitals Corporation and was not a
part of the Fire Department. The NYC EMS was administratively taken over by FDNY
on March 17, 1996. NYC EMS falls under the Chief of
EMS who reports to the Chief of Fire Operations.
FDNY volunteers
There are presently 10 Volunteer Fire Companies within the City of New York:
- West Hamilton Beach VFD, Queens
- Broad Channel VFD, Queens [1]
- Point Breeze VFD, Queens [2]
- Rockaway Point VFD, Queens
- Roxbury VFD, Queens
- Gerritsen Beach VFD, Brooklyn
- Aviation Volunteer Hose Co #3, Bronx [3]
- Edgewater Park Volunteer Hose Co #1, Bronx
- Richmond Engine Company, Richmondtown
- Oceanic Hook & Ladder Company, Staten Island
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