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- Jun 27, 2017
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- 1,194
I had the opportunity to review a company journal of Rescue 3 recorded in 1944-45. I believe at the time they were quartered with Ladder 17 on 143rd St. It looks like the Rescue responded to boxes in the 14th and 12th Battalions, 2-2 signals in Upper Manhattan and southern Bronx, 3-3 signals in the northern Bronx, and Signal 10 special calls (fires, inhalator, refrigerator leaks) everywhere. Preliminary signal 7-5 was not seen. Signal 7-5 was in use by the 1950's, but was a call for a full first alarm and not an indication of a working or all-hands fire.
Everybody in the company lived in the Bronx except the Matron Mary Charboneau (Appt 1/19/32) who lived at 427 W24th St,(a nickel subway ride away). The Captain, Henry Eberle, lived on McGraw Ave. Lieutenant John J. Kelly (7) lived on Perry Ave. and Lt, Thomas Phelan lived at 1155 Hoe Ave. Names familiar to me were Scarbeck, Vodvarka, and Schneible (covering Lt, E 60). Deputy Chief Halligan checked in every few days. Even Dr. Archer is seen once drilling the members on medical issues.
Sadly, Andy Milyko (Appt 5/1/37) is in the company journal. The late Jack Lerch told me he was buffing the job where Milyko collapsed and died while cutting the roof of a tenement on Southern Blvd. on July 1, 1953. Also, Packey Radican was a covering Lieutenant from Ladder 17. In 17 Truck he broke in a proby named Richard Hamilton.
Radican would die on 12/26/52 while supervising Hamilton at a top floor job on Lincoln Pl.
If you went only by the amount of ink used in the book, you would think FDNY was only a classic bureaucracy who sometimes went to a fire. The whereabouts of every member is recorded several times a day. Every gallon of gas and quart of oil put in the rig is carefully supervised and noted. The travel of every new or broken piece of equipment to and from the shop is there as well. You can find who brought the payroll and the amount of money for the Matron forwarded to the 14th Battalion. It was seen that every time a member was absent due to illness, It was the wife that called in sick.
What's missing are the things that make a firehouse a human activity: kitchen "activities", pranks, neighborhood characters, and maybe even a trip to the basement to sort things out.
Everybody in the company lived in the Bronx except the Matron Mary Charboneau (Appt 1/19/32) who lived at 427 W24th St,(a nickel subway ride away). The Captain, Henry Eberle, lived on McGraw Ave. Lieutenant John J. Kelly (7) lived on Perry Ave. and Lt, Thomas Phelan lived at 1155 Hoe Ave. Names familiar to me were Scarbeck, Vodvarka, and Schneible (covering Lt, E 60). Deputy Chief Halligan checked in every few days. Even Dr. Archer is seen once drilling the members on medical issues.
Sadly, Andy Milyko (Appt 5/1/37) is in the company journal. The late Jack Lerch told me he was buffing the job where Milyko collapsed and died while cutting the roof of a tenement on Southern Blvd. on July 1, 1953. Also, Packey Radican was a covering Lieutenant from Ladder 17. In 17 Truck he broke in a proby named Richard Hamilton.
Radican would die on 12/26/52 while supervising Hamilton at a top floor job on Lincoln Pl.
If you went only by the amount of ink used in the book, you would think FDNY was only a classic bureaucracy who sometimes went to a fire. The whereabouts of every member is recorded several times a day. Every gallon of gas and quart of oil put in the rig is carefully supervised and noted. The travel of every new or broken piece of equipment to and from the shop is there as well. You can find who brought the payroll and the amount of money for the Matron forwarded to the 14th Battalion. It was seen that every time a member was absent due to illness, It was the wife that called in sick.
What's missing are the things that make a firehouse a human activity: kitchen "activities", pranks, neighborhood characters, and maybe even a trip to the basement to sort things out.