History
Obituary: Dennis Smith
Dennis Smith, Firefighter Who Wrote Best Sellers, Dies at 81 “Report From Engine Co. 82” was the first of his 16 books. He also started Firehouse magazine and was the founding chairman of the New York City Fire Museum. Dennis Smith, a teenage hellion and high school dropout who transformed himself into a famed New…
Read MoreHISTORY OF THE FIRE SERVICE IN NYC
The history of the Fire Service in New York began in 1648 during the administration of Governor Peter Stuyvesant, when the first fire ordinance was adopted by the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. The act required that funds received from fines levied for dirty chimneys should be used for the maintenance of buckets, hooks &…
Read MoreEngine 27 originally North River Engine Company
Among the volunteer fire companies that protected New Yorkers in the first half of the 19th century was the North River Engine Company. Like the rest of the city’s volunteer force, the “laddies” at 173 Franklin Street were replaced in 1865. The devastating fire that destroyed Barnum’s Museum that year along with pressure on the State Assembly by reformers…
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