Riding in the City

During the late 70's, the 80's and 90's we used o do a lot of riding. Back then it wasn't bikes so much as big red trucks. Tower Ladder 44 on Morris Avenue in the Bronx was always one of my favorites.

But there was Ladder 33 and Engine 75 on Jerome Avenue, Ladder 19 and Engine 50 on Intervale. In Brooklyn there was Ladder 111, Ladder 112, and one of my other favorites Ladder 124, the Tonka Truck on Himrod. Then there were the Rescues, Rescue 3 in the Bronx (before the move to Manhatten), Rescue 2 in Brooklyn. Riding with the troops in the City was always a blast and the guys were great.

All you did was knock on the Firehouse door, tell them you were Firemen from Connecticut and would like to look around. The next thing you knew, you were being fed, had a bed for the night and riding with the busiest Fire Department in the world. 

I remember one night, laying in bed on the second floor (all Bunk rooms are up stairs). The printer alarm went off, sort of a double tone klaxon with a duck call at the end. (this varied from house to house depending on what the troops set up). The Housewatch yelled out "SEWER FIRE". I thought to myself, "Sewer Fire?" "A bunch of smoke billowing out of a hole". Being beat from driving around all day I just rolled over and went to sleep. After a half hour I was awakened by a back up alarm of a unit backing into the firehouse. The Unit I was suppose to be with didn't have a backup alarm. A relocation company out of Queens.  I went back to sleep. The next morning I woke up, walked downstairs to the smell of wet turnout gear, and building smoke. (Structural fires have their own smell). It turned out what I had missed was not a sewer fire, it was a building fire, two three story buildings side by side burning. The fire was about two blocks away on the same street as the firehouse (Himrod Street).

They must have put a sign on the front of the building that two Fire Buffs missed a fire, because everyone of the on coming shift yelled out (as they came through the door) "Where are the two buffs who slept through a fire!". The Company that came in to cover the area saw two guys sleeping upstairs and thought the Truck Company we were riding with had left two of their own in quarters.

The reason we missed the fire?  Sewer Fire?  No...Brooklyn accent. "Store Fire" (Stew-uh fi-uh)

klay