E75/L33 circa 1974

In "My Younger Buff Years" I remember seeing 75/33 in the streets.
A Mack pumper and a Mack Tower Ladder - some of the BEST Fire Apparatus ever made.

click below for some of the stories

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My younger Buff years

It was my 21st Birthday and my buddy and I had been celebrating in Manhatten. Around 2-3 AM we made our way over to Eng 82/Lad 31s Qtrs. A book titled; "Report from Eng 82" was about to come out. Of course we were a little "under the weather" but the apparatus doors were open and we walked in. We were surprised to see all the rigs in Qtrs because they were so busy at the time. We got invited in and next thing we know is we were sitting having a great 3 AM dinner meal of Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes etc. Of course we didn"t know anybody there, but they treated us GREAT. As we got into the...
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Capttomo said:
Returning from a run heading south on University Avenue and turning onto 183 St to head down to Jerome Ave.

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I believe 1974 was the first year that L33 topped the department Runs list. And I believe the previous year they were not even in the top 25.
Part of the reason for the dramatic change was the destruction of the 3rd Avenue EL. There was a migration of people to the West Bronx seeking access to the subway lines to get to their jobs in Manhattan. (Another reason was that just about everything south of Fordham had been burned down.)
 
3511 said:
I believe 1974 was the first year that L33 topped the department Runs list. And I believe the previous year they were not even in the top 25.
Part of the reason for the dramatic change was the destruction of the 3rd Avenue EL. There was a migration of people to the West Bronx seeking access to the subway lines to get to their jobs in Manhattan. (Another reason was that just about everything south of Fordham had been burned down.)
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You are so spot on. 75 went from being not even in the top 25 to number 1 in just 4 years. The runs and fire activity in the 19th exploded overnight. 48/43/75 became extremely busy. Remember back then 42,43,48 did not have trucks in those houses. And 33 was the only tower ladder north of the CBX to the county line and from the Hudson River to white plains road with the exception of TL46. Other reasons for the demographic shift were the opening of the Tappan Zee Bridge (escape to suburbia without the high prices of Westchester) the construction of the cross Bronx expressway which obliterated so many apartments and businesses, the transformation of Hunter college to a community college (students no longer needed apartments), the opening of CoOp city which saw a significant shift of people from west to east Bronx, the opening of North Central Hospital/closing of Fordham and Morrisania Hospitals (hospital workers wanted to live closer to work) and the rapidly depleting housing stock in the south Bronx. All of these factors saw a rapid transformation of the area from the Harlem River to Southern blvd and CBX to Fordham Rd with fingers stretching up Sedgwick, Webb, Valentines, Decatur etc. An amazing time.
 
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