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 21^st 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 11^th 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