My younger Buff years
- Thread starter nfd2004
- Start date
I don't think these photos have been posted yet. Remember the days.
http://photojordan.com/FDNY/index.html
I do have a question. On Photo Number 28, what is the tool with a hook and looks like as short loop of rope on it ? What is it used for ? I assume stuck elevator's.
http://photojordan.com/FDNY/index.html
I do have a question. On Photo Number 28, what is the tool with a hook and looks like as short loop of rope on it ? What is it used for ? I assume stuck elevator's.
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2009
- Messages
- 28,216
nfd2004 said:
It's really photo # 15, the member in the elevator is holding the tool in question.
Its called a polling tool this one looks like it was built by the company now the city has them manufactured and sent out to all ladder co. It is used to to manually open the elev car door from above or below or in this case from the adjacent elev shaft. All lad cos have elevator keys to open the shaftway doors then this tool can be used to reach the actual elevator car door. There is a small wheel on the door that you lift up with the polling tool that will open the car door so the occupants can be removed. sorry for rambling.
blzdp said:
Thank you very much for that information. I never saw that tool before in all the years of buffing. I appreciate that "blzdp".
And Mike, no wonder I can Never win the Lottery. I can't even get the number of a picture right that's staring me right in the face.
A good friend, "Patrickfd" had posted this story on another site and I just wanted to pass it on.
Pat says:
"I used to ride with Squad 4 back in the day and I remember those guys saying that at the time, they held the record for the most runs in a 24 hr period. They had "65 runs" in a 24 hour period. And those were Fire Calls, not EMS. I remember them telling me they once had a run for a building fire, and when they pulled into the block, they had Nine Buildings on fire and they were by themselves for an extended period of time. All their help was stopping at another multiple alarm fire that they were passing by on the way to the Squads fire".
Thanks Pat. Great story.
Pat says:
"I used to ride with Squad 4 back in the day and I remember those guys saying that at the time, they held the record for the most runs in a 24 hr period. They had "65 runs" in a 24 hour period. And those were Fire Calls, not EMS. I remember them telling me they once had a run for a building fire, and when they pulled into the block, they had Nine Buildings on fire and they were by themselves for an extended period of time. All their help was stopping at another multiple alarm fire that they were passing by on the way to the Squads fire".
Thanks Pat. Great story.
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2007
- Messages
- 5,392
Having buffed during that period, I believe everything he said.
Really 3511. July 75, 82 engine had 210 structural fires with 205 hours of structural work time, for the month. Yeah "only" 7 structural fires a day and "only" 6+ hours of structural work a day, add another 5 hours after some jobs for relief, he was right. That does leave you another 12 hours for the additional runs.
From my own personal dealings with Eng 82 back in the busy 'War Years' if they were just taking up from a job, & they got word that there was another job in the area, Engine 82 would volunteer to respond. I think that ******* would agree with me on that comment. It seemed that the term "R&R" was not in their vocabulary! I often wondered how the guys did it night after night.
Every once in awhile, I go back and read some of these pages. There's story after story. It's about forty years ago and it's still hard for me to believe just how bad things were in those days. If I wasn't there to see it for myself, I'd probadly have trouble believing it.
From my first days of riding Rescue 2 with Lt Hamilton back in 1968, about a year or two later hanging out in Harlem in the neighborhood of Eng 58 and Lad 26. I was in my beginning years of watching what I consider today as the Best and Busiest Fire Dept probadly the World has ever seen.
Then moving up to the South Bronx after Report from Engine 82 came out. It was something that was really hard to believe. Blocks and blocks of burned out buildings. There would be shacks made out of plywood with people living them. Squatters would occupy the burned out shells lining the streets. Burned cars on every other street. Anything that could burn, would burn. I hung out there and around Eng 46/Lad 27 until the War Years just about ended.
But it really didn't end there. Along came the early 1980s as the West Bronx started to really get busy. Engs 42, 48, 75, 92 were starting to hit the top numbers for runs and workers then. There were others too. Sometimes I'd park on Morris Ave and watch Engine 92 go out a dozen times in only a few hours. Some of the streets in those areas were starting to resemble what Engine 82s neighborhood had looked like a few years earlier. As a rough guess, I'd say that West Bronx area did about 20 years of heavy fire duty.
And then add Brooklyn. The Boro of Fire. Neighborhoods like Bushwick, Brownsville, Bed-Sty, and Williamsburg were some of the busiest. These very few words, don't begin to explain, what the Members of the FDNYs Bravest did over the last 40 years or so. Only thing is, as far as I'm concerned, they are a pretty tough team to beat. I guess I consider them "The World Champions of the Fire Service". And it continues on today.
From my first days of riding Rescue 2 with Lt Hamilton back in 1968, about a year or two later hanging out in Harlem in the neighborhood of Eng 58 and Lad 26. I was in my beginning years of watching what I consider today as the Best and Busiest Fire Dept probadly the World has ever seen.
Then moving up to the South Bronx after Report from Engine 82 came out. It was something that was really hard to believe. Blocks and blocks of burned out buildings. There would be shacks made out of plywood with people living them. Squatters would occupy the burned out shells lining the streets. Burned cars on every other street. Anything that could burn, would burn. I hung out there and around Eng 46/Lad 27 until the War Years just about ended.
But it really didn't end there. Along came the early 1980s as the West Bronx started to really get busy. Engs 42, 48, 75, 92 were starting to hit the top numbers for runs and workers then. There were others too. Sometimes I'd park on Morris Ave and watch Engine 92 go out a dozen times in only a few hours. Some of the streets in those areas were starting to resemble what Engine 82s neighborhood had looked like a few years earlier. As a rough guess, I'd say that West Bronx area did about 20 years of heavy fire duty.
And then add Brooklyn. The Boro of Fire. Neighborhoods like Bushwick, Brownsville, Bed-Sty, and Williamsburg were some of the busiest. These very few words, don't begin to explain, what the Members of the FDNYs Bravest did over the last 40 years or so. Only thing is, as far as I'm concerned, they are a pretty tough team to beat. I guess I consider them "The World Champions of the Fire Service". And it continues on today.
In the 1950s, we moved to SI from Bklyn. My dad transferred from Bklyn to E164/L84. The boro of Richmond was really "the sticks" back then. No VN Bridge, no SI Expressway, no SI Mall, no McDonalds fast food, a lot of farms, a Farmers Market, 3 or 4 ferries, several orphanages, a small airport, a drive in movie, many old docks and shipyards - and 200K NYC residents to protect. No E165/E166/E167/E168/L85/L86/L87 yet. Only 14 engine companies and 9 trucks. E 159 and E 163 (in the center of SI) were frequently in the top 20 FDNY working companies in yearly Runs and Workers totals. SI had little traffic but no highways and a lot of narrow, overgrown, unmarked streets.
His first tour was during a busy brush season day. L 84 had a new 1955 FWD wooden aerial ladder (similar to http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/f_a/l15_5.shtml ) . He was placing his turnout gear on the rig and one of the members asked him why he was riding on the officer's side running board . My dad responded that was where he was taught to ride the H&L - to balance the load and other safety reasons. The senior guy said let the kid ride where he wants to. Their first run was about 3 or 4 miles as the second due truck into Tottenville. They were redirected when not required and sent to a brush fire near the old Al Deppe's along Arthur Kill Road (now part of the SI landfill). About a 7 mile run. During both responses, the senior member, who was driving, hugged the curb side of the roads (even though SI had no curbs back then) to ensure hitting every tree branch, shrub, bush, briar and vine hanging into the road. The new guy was coated with leaves and branch parts all through his turnout gear. The battalion chief, an old WWII vet, commended the new guy for going to work "camouflaged". The kid quickly learned that it was much smarter to ride with the 2 or 3 guys standing next to each other on the driver's side running board.
The truck was typical of the open, unprotected rigs that most companies still used a few years later as the War Years began in the 1960s. Members were standees hanging on the side of ladder trucks or on the back step of engines, responding 10 or 20 times a tour into neighborhoods which were really lawless war zones. Members were exposed to thrown rocks, bricks and bottles. At least one member I remember lost his life responding to a false alarm.
I really have to salute past members who responded to countless alarms hanging on to apparatus without seats or belts in all weather and social environments.
His first tour was during a busy brush season day. L 84 had a new 1955 FWD wooden aerial ladder (similar to http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/f_a/l15_5.shtml ) . He was placing his turnout gear on the rig and one of the members asked him why he was riding on the officer's side running board . My dad responded that was where he was taught to ride the H&L - to balance the load and other safety reasons. The senior guy said let the kid ride where he wants to. Their first run was about 3 or 4 miles as the second due truck into Tottenville. They were redirected when not required and sent to a brush fire near the old Al Deppe's along Arthur Kill Road (now part of the SI landfill). About a 7 mile run. During both responses, the senior member, who was driving, hugged the curb side of the roads (even though SI had no curbs back then) to ensure hitting every tree branch, shrub, bush, briar and vine hanging into the road. The new guy was coated with leaves and branch parts all through his turnout gear. The battalion chief, an old WWII vet, commended the new guy for going to work "camouflaged". The kid quickly learned that it was much smarter to ride with the 2 or 3 guys standing next to each other on the driver's side running board.
The truck was typical of the open, unprotected rigs that most companies still used a few years later as the War Years began in the 1960s. Members were standees hanging on the side of ladder trucks or on the back step of engines, responding 10 or 20 times a tour into neighborhoods which were really lawless war zones. Members were exposed to thrown rocks, bricks and bottles. At least one member I remember lost his life responding to a false alarm.
I really have to salute past members who responded to countless alarms hanging on to apparatus without seats or belts in all weather and social environments.
As always, Thanks Mack. Not too many people know this, but "Mack" actually has alot more stories to tell than I do. He's just been hiding. When I talk to him on the phone, we could talk for days about this stuff.
The other day, I got together with John Bendick Jr and Sr. The senior talked about a fire off the Sheriden Expressway with fire blowing out 27 windows, just in the front. Riding by on the Sheriden was one of the Dept Big Chiefs. As I understand it, the officer on the scene of the fire requested a Second Alarm on arrival. Car 5 cancelled that Second Alarm while he rode by on the expressway. (I hope I told the story right John).
John Jr also had a story to tell. Kind of bringing back the Old Days. He said he worked a night shift recently at Engine 75 and they made 18 runs. Twelve of which were after midnight, and the last one was a job.
The other day, I got together with John Bendick Jr and Sr. The senior talked about a fire off the Sheriden Expressway with fire blowing out 27 windows, just in the front. Riding by on the Sheriden was one of the Dept Big Chiefs. As I understand it, the officer on the scene of the fire requested a Second Alarm on arrival. Car 5 cancelled that Second Alarm while he rode by on the expressway. (I hope I told the story right John).
John Jr also had a story to tell. Kind of bringing back the Old Days. He said he worked a night shift recently at Engine 75 and they made 18 runs. Twelve of which were after midnight, and the last one was a job.
Maybe some of you will recognize a few in these photos. Is that "69 Mets" we see ?? A little time spent in the streets with 75/33.
http://sjrothphotography.smugmug.com/In-The-Past-1/FDNY/12228621 q6Xyo-871239732 wBFX6 (hope it works.
And Thanks "Patrickfd" for passing this on to me.
http://sjrothphotography.smugmug.com/In-The-Past-1/FDNY/12228621 q6Xyo-871239732 wBFX6 (hope it works.
And Thanks "Patrickfd" for passing this on to me.
Throughout these 65 or 66 so pages I would like to say this. I have certainly enjoyed reading these many post. I am amazed at what everybody on here has contributed. From FDNY Buffs, both current and from the past. Dispatchers from both current and the past. And Members of the FDNY both current and the Past. We have all put our stories together to tell the World what it was like during the busiest time for fires in History. I often referred to the firefighters of those days as "The Greatest Generation of Firefighters". And rightfully so.
But two firefighters, actually both retired FDNY Chiefs, stand out as probadly some of the most highly respected chiefs in the Dept. Both have written on this thread several times. They are "68jk09" ( worked in Enhanced E41, Lad 108, Res 2, I Know there's more too) who I refer to as Chief J.K., and "*******" sometimes referred to as "T.T.", who reported some of his experiences to us during the War Years as the Capt of Eng 82. As I have read on another site, These Two Chiefs were Very HIGHLY RESPECTED by their Peers while on the job. Something that takes years build.
Hats off to these Two Highly Respected, High Ranking Chiefs. We Thank them for their Contributations on here, and we wish them a Healthy, Long and Well Deserved Retirement. THANK YOU Chief J.K. and Chief T.T. (*******).
But two firefighters, actually both retired FDNY Chiefs, stand out as probadly some of the most highly respected chiefs in the Dept. Both have written on this thread several times. They are "68jk09" ( worked in Enhanced E41, Lad 108, Res 2, I Know there's more too) who I refer to as Chief J.K., and "*******" sometimes referred to as "T.T.", who reported some of his experiences to us during the War Years as the Capt of Eng 82. As I have read on another site, These Two Chiefs were Very HIGHLY RESPECTED by their Peers while on the job. Something that takes years build.
Hats off to these Two Highly Respected, High Ranking Chiefs. We Thank them for their Contributations on here, and we wish them a Healthy, Long and Well Deserved Retirement. THANK YOU Chief J.K. and Chief T.T. (*******).
Thank you nfd2004. Always a pleasure to be among firefighters. My wife refuses to hum "Hail To The Chief" anymore when I get up, and the kids are gone, so I can't do Roll Calls,so it's here and the other two sites to keep the memories going. Thanks, and may we be able to do it for a while yet.