A LOOK BACK.

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Mar 3, 2007
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92 Engine and 44 Truck had adjacent quarters with a dividing wall between them. The engine had the coal furnace for both houses and the truck side enjoyed an open and clean (no coal dust) basement. Plenty of room for a pool table, etc. Their living large came to an an abrupt end in '69 when a forest of screw jacks was installed to support the new tower ladder.
280 and 132 also had a similar set up.
 
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Jun 2, 2010
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"IRON FIREMAN" emblem on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/364342442977?hash=item54d4807be1:g:jKsAAOSwuh9kqxMF

The Iron Fireman was the name of a unit that could be retrofitted to a home coal furnace.....It eliminated constantly having to shovel coal.....the Unit was about the size of a large kitchen table.....coal was loaded into the hopper then electrically it would dispense coal into the furnace at a preset time frame so there would always be coal introduced to the furnace during a cold night without the homeowner having to get up from sleep.....my good friend growing up had one of these in his Family's cellar & he & I as teenagers consumed much beer sitting around in front of it dreaming about us getting OTJ.....Luckily we both did.
My grandmother had one and it was my job to fill it with coal and take out the ashes every Saturday.
 
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Jul 20, 2022
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Squad 4 did over 10,000 runs in the late 1960s. I was a fireman in Tower Ladder 18 and was going to College for Fire Science, so I was involved in the NASA "Firefighters Integrated Response Ensemble System," = Project F.I.R.E.S, along with member of Squad 4, Ladder 19 and units from Huston, Texas and I think Chicago and L.A.. The FIRES program that was a program to use technology from the NASA space program for other uses. NASAs Technical Utilization Committee ran the program. Out of it came Nomex for turnout coats, the Scott 4.5 SCBA (based on the Astronauts space breathing system) Better fire helmets, and to a certain degree some E.M.S. equipment such as defibullators. (Hope that is spelled right?) Who says the space program was a waste. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired
 
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Squad 4 did over 10,000 runs in the late 1960s. I was a fireman in Tower Ladder 18 and was going to College for Fire Science, so I was involved in the NASA "Firefighters Integrated Response Ensemble System," = Project F.I.R.E.S, along with member of Squad 4, Ladder 19 and units from Huston, Texas and I think Chicago and L.A.. The FIRES program that was a program to use technology from the NASA space program for other uses. NASAs Technical Utilization Committee ran the program. Out of it came Nomex for turnout coats, the Scott 4.5 SCBA (based on the Astronauts space breathing system) Better fire helmets, and to a certain degree some E.M.S. equipment such as defibullators. (Hope that is spelled right?) Who says the space program was a waste. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired
 
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Jun 27, 2017
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On Page A-1 is a letter to NASA engineer Pat McLaughlan.

Pat grew up in the Montrose section of Houston. As a kid he buffed at Engine 16 at Westheimer and Yaupon on a bike. After graduating from engineering school he started working for NASA in 1963. Working at Crew Systems Division, his group was tasked with expanding the application of space technology (Tang orange juice wasn't enough). Putting some off-the-shelf equipment together, they came up with a fire service SCBA.

He was sent to New York to supervise field testing at Ladder 19 (during the War Years). When leaving town he and his wife were taken to dinner at the famous Manhattan restaurant 21 Club by the Fire Commissioner- John T O'Hagan. He also worked with Boston Fire Commissioner Leo Stapleton.

During his 40 year career at NASA, Pat was a volunteer EMT on the local EMS organization: Clear Lake Emergency Medical Corps. He had written permission from the Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center to leave work on a call.

Now, near 90 years old and long retired, I have known him for decades. He lives two blocks away.
 
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Squad 4 did over 10,000 runs in the late 1960s. I was a fireman in Tower Ladder 18 and was going to College for Fire Science, so I was involved in the NASA "Firefighters Integrated Response Ensemble System," = Project F.I.R.E.S, along with member of Squad 4, Ladder 19 and units from Huston, Texas and I think Chicago and L.A.. The FIRES program that was a program to use technology from the NASA space program for other uses. NASAs Technical Utilization Committee ran the program. Out of it came Nomex for turnout coats, the Scott 4.5 SCBA (based on the Astronauts space breathing system) Better fire helmets, and to a certain degree some E.M.S. equipment such as defibullators. (Hope that is spelled right?) Who says the space program was a waste. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired
During a recent podcast for members of this site a few weeks ago, Ira Hoffman the GURU of Runs and Workers was the guest speaker. About a dozen of us tuned in, saw and heard Ira clearly state that not a single FDNY company broke 10k runs, despite rumors of the officer throwing tickets away, not recording runs, blowing away from his tie clip, not reporting trash can fires, etc etc. Let's also not forget the solid dispatchers whose main responsibility is to record each and every run was a source too. Here is the R&W tally by Ira Hoffman of Sq 4 1970.

1970SQ4 RW.png
 
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How would run numbers be affected by company officers on the night tour who were ditching run tickets to avoid the twenty runs before midnight interchange scheme? I assume squads wouldn't worry about that.

On a different issue, before the introduction the CAD system, the Brooklyn CO was observed to not count pulled street boxes during intervals of high alarm rates (30 alarms/hour); or cover the box with one engine, or one and one, against protocol (an early version of Fallback Steps).
 
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Mar 3, 2007
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Talk to and listen to the men that worked in Brownsville, East New York, South Bronx, Harlem, etc. The running was there and the work was there. Dropped and/or lost run tickets, JTO's edicts and the CO's being overwhelmed all contributed to a scenario where we don't know what the "true numbers" are for sure, BUT one thing is for certain, the guys who worked those neighborhoods back then worked their tails off and gave us a helluva "War Years" legacy.
To those of them who are still with us - God love you and thank you for your service and dedication.
To those who aren't with us any more - Rest in Peace and thank you for what you did and the tradition we continue to honor.
 

Atlas

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During a recent podcast for members of this site a few weeks ago, Ira Hoffman the GURU of Runs and Workers was the guest speaker. About a dozen of us tuned in, saw and heard Ira clearly state that not a single FDNY company broke 10k runs, despite rumors of the officer throwing tickets away, not recording runs, blowing away from his tie clip, not reporting trash can fires, etc etc. Let's also not forget the solid dispatchers whose main responsibility is to record each and every run was a source too. Here is the R&W tally by Ira Hoffman of Sq 4 1970.

View attachment 41794
Looking at the runs for Marine Companies, there runs were in the East River. Marines 4, 5, 6, & 7 covered the East River, while Marine 1, & 2 were on the Hudson Rv. Marine 8 & 9 covered NY Bay. That still holds true today that the East Rv is busier..
 
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