Boro Call / Largest Response

Thanks for the above information Ig. All I can say is strange...curious....interesting. It certainly raises questions.

All within six months in 1968? At that time the "War Years" was just getting underway and everybody was still "running off the bells".

On 1/11/68, temperature was below freezing and there had already been three four alarm fires in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx when Box 2848 hit in at 2:31 pm.

In early February there was a sanitation strike that pushed FDNY to the limit. 2/7 had 746 trash fires and 888 on the 8th. On 2/23 the Third Battalion was relocated from Engine 82 to Engine 94. On 2/26 the retired Captain of Engine 313 died as an LODD. I can't find any record of the eight alarms at Box 2456.

The seven alarm job at Box 2381 at E. 163rd St near Third Ave. was a one story 100x125 foot commercial on 6/6/68.

My first thought: a dispatcher's boro call to get enough engine companies rapidly on the scene?
 
entropychaser said:
Thanks for the above information Ig. All I can say is strange...curious....interesting. It certainly raises questions.

All within six months in 1968? At that time the "War Years" was just getting underway and everybody was still "running off the bells".

On 1/11/68, temperature was below freezing and there had already been three four alarm fires in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx when Box 2848 hit in at 2:31 pm.

In early February there was a sanitation strike that pushed FDNY to the limit. 2/7 had 746 trash fires and 888 on the 8th. On 2/23 the Third Battalion was relocated from Engine 82 to Engine 94. On 2/26 the retired Captain of Engine 313 died as an LODD. I can't find any record of the eight alarms at Box 2456.

The seven alarm job at Box 2381 at E. 163rd St near Third Ave. was a one story 100x125 foot commercial on 6/6/68.

My first thought: a dispatcher's boro call to get enough engine companies rapidly on the scene?
Click to expand...
8 alarms Queens Box 1380, Promeanade and Beach March 31 1968.
 
Engine 97 was established in 1931. In 1957, Engine 72 was moved from Downtown to become the second section of Engine 41. Engine 66 was still a fire boat.
I am unaware of Bronx ever supplying engines on a boro call.

Into the War Years, the Bronx CO frequently had problems providing engine responses during peak demand. And the peaks were getting higher and more frequent. Manhattan was of no help when the 12th and 16th Battalions were busy. And besides time and distance across the bridges, Queens had their hands full supplying engine relocators into Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, or East New York.

When the Rand Corporation arrived, one of their first assignments was to develop a plan to increase engine company availability in the Bronx.
They started by gathering data. The key points for consideration were total engine runs, time of unavailability, and (as they found out in Brooklyn) alarm rate. When the alarm rate rose from 10 to 20 to 30 per hour, the wheels fell off the operation. If the rate got to 50/hour, dispatch time essentially went to infinity.

The fire department is no different than the power company. If they get a demand that's 100% of supply, increasing supply or shedding load (or both) is mandatory.

Rand found that peak demand happened around 2100 hours- on average. Their suggestion was to increase supply by the use of the tactical control units from 1530 hours to 0030 hr. This, in turn, led to second sections, DRB boxes, fallback steps, and ERS boxes.
 
entropychaser said:
Thanks for the above information Ig. All I can say is strange...curious....interesting. It certainly raises questions.

All within six months in 1968? At that time the "War Years" was just getting underway and everybody was still "running off the bells".

On 1/11/68, temperature was below freezing and there had already been three four alarm fires in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx when Box 2848 hit in at 2:31 pm.

In early February there was a sanitation strike that pushed FDNY to the limit. 2/7 had 746 trash fires and 888 on the 8th. On 2/23 the Third Battalion was relocated from Engine 82 to Engine 94. On 2/26 the retired Captain of Engine 313 died as an LODD. I can't find any record of the eight alarms at Box 2456.

The seven alarm job at Box 2381 at E. 163rd St near Third Ave. was a one story 100x125 foot commercial on 6/6/68.

My first thought: a dispatcher's boro call to get enough engine companies rapidly on the scene?
Click to expand...
On 1/11/68 - multiple multiples
At 1238 44-2503
At 1304 33-3137 for which a Dispatchers 44 was sent, Queens sent 7 engines and 1 ladder for coverage
At 1503 33-2848 for which a Dispatchers 44, then a Dispatchers 55, then boro call 66-22-937 were sent

On 2/25/1968
At 1741 2456
At 1750 22-2456 requested 1752 Dispatcher’s 33 sent
At 1754 33-2456 requested 1754 Dispatcher’s 44 sent
At 1800 44-2456 requested 1800 Dispatcher’s 55 sent
At 1827 55-2456 requested 1827 Boro Call 66-2456-99-22-4356.
At 1845 66-2456-99-33-4356
Many pages of bell signals logged

On 6/6/1968
At 2320 66-55-2381-66-22-1622
There were many interboro relocations

Manhattan to Bronx boro calls were less distinct since large incidents in Bronx and upper Manhattan were usually already sharing units from both boros and technically, having the same boro prefix (66), they could have been considered Simultaneous Alarms.

No boro calls from Staten Island

Calls for a large number of units into a boro for resource coverage were not labeled boro calls. On 9-11-01, Bronx sent a contingent of companies to Manhattan for coverage and assignment but that was after boro calls were no longer labeled as such.

Dispatcher experts on this website, please correct any errors of this historical perspective.
 
The Bells were in use until about 1975. I was appointed in January of 1973, and we were trained in the bells in "Proby" school. I remember, my unit Engine 27, at the time, being relocated to, Engine 73, in the South Bronx the night of the Jennings Street Collapse, in 1974, I think. The Bronx was jumping with many Boxes coming in and multiple alarms throughout the city. It was so busy the Bronx dispatchers had an "Open Key", meaning every firehouse in the Bronx received every alarm in the Bronx/ So it required two of us in the housewatch just to count the bell alarms coming in and write them in the Engine 73's Company Journal. We ended up being "Special called" to the Collapse at Jennings Street, where 7 Fireman were trapped. All of them were injured, but all 7 survived. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired
 
fdhistorian said:
On 1/11/68 - multiple multiples
At 1238 44-2503
At 1304 33-3137 for which a Dispatchers 44 was sent, Queens sent 7 engines and 1 ladder for coverage
At 1503 33-2848 for which a Dispatchers 44, then a Dispatchers 55, then boro call 66-22-937 were sent

On 2/25/1968
At 1741 2456
At 1750 22-2456 requested 1752 Dispatcher’s 33 sent
At 1754 33-2456 requested 1754 Dispatcher’s 44 sent
At 1800 44-2456 requested 1800 Dispatcher’s 55 sent
At 1827 55-2456 requested 1827 Boro Call 66-2456-99-22-4356.
At 1845 66-2456-99-33-4356
Many pages of bell signals logged

On 6/6/1968
At 2320 66-55-2381-66-22-1622
There were many interboro relocations

Manhattan to Bronx boro calls were less distinct since large incidents in Bronx and upper Manhattan were usually already sharing units from both boros and technically, having the same boro prefix (66), they could have been considered Simultaneous Alarms.

No boro calls from Staten Island

Calls for a large number of units into a boro for resource coverage were not labeled boro calls. On 9-11-01, Bronx sent a contingent of companies to Manhattan for coverage and assignment but that was after boro calls were no longer labeled as such.

Dispatcher experts on this website, please correct any errors of this historical perspective.
Click to expand...
What year did they stop using the Boro Call?
 
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