FDNY 3 Truck Operating in NJ

[mfc2257 464]

JBE, tbendick, Sq288... Can you shed some light here...

I was boxing up my FireEngineering's from 2005 getting ready to store them when I came across the "Specifying the Small Stuff" supplement from June of 2005 (a supplement on specs for apparatus ordering).

On the cover is a picture of a job in NJ that appears to be either Weehawkin or Union City by "Franks Furniture". Bergenfield's Tower, a NHRFR rear mount (I would assume the lo-pro Seagrave that runs out of Weehawkin by the Lincoln Tunnel) and FDNY Truck 3 are visable at the front of the structure with an unidentified straight stick operating its master stream from a far side exposure.

It seems strange to me that any FDNY apparatus would be operating at what appears to be a standard taxpayer in NJ. Hoboken, Jersey City, as well as other NHRFR apparatus would seem to be much closer than Truck 3 that if I'm not mistaken turns out from 13th Street and 4th Ave (for folks not familiar with NYC 4th Ave NB becomes Park Ave at 14th St., Union Square).... A pretty good shot away from the Lincoln Tunnel.

Wouldn't Ladder 21 (38th IAO Dyer Ave, Lincoln Tunnel) or Ladder 24 (31st IAO 6th Ave) be more logical?

Any thoughts here?

[CPAGE 2]

I do recall that night it was cold and NHRF&R had a fire bug running around the streets that night he had set a 3 alarm fire in union city and 5 blocks away a 2nd 3rd alarm fire in union city then to top it off was the 5th ++ alarm in the Furniture store and warehouse that you are talking about alot of m/a in the area from all over the 5th alarm was a full 1st alarm from FDNY and alot of east bergen m/a towns. I also think that Jersey City had some work of they own. Hope this helps.

I think the fdny puts a box out for m/a and they put what ever companies on the ticket they can find or by what ever the citywide tour chief say's.

[Guest]

I remember hearing of it, and seeing the picture of 3 Truck operating.....but do not recall the circumstances involved.

[JBE 328]

This was late '01 or early '02. I was still dispatching in Manhattan but I wasn't working that day. North Hudson had an arsonist running around one particular weekend. They were getting hammered with fires. I think we sent 3 Truck, an engine and a chief into Jersey. There are a couple of mutual aid boxes for Manhattan, one for the Holland Tunnel and one for the Lincoln Tunnel. I'm not sure if there is one for the GWB.

This was probably a situation where 21 was either not available(remember we still had a pretty strong presence at the Trade Center at that time) or the dispatchers just lined up companies and said, "This is who is going", and 21 was not a good move.

Any mutual aid request has to go through either the Chief of Department or the Citywide Command Chief. It usually takes up to 30 minutes before we get the ok. 9 times out of 10, the units end up operating at the fire, as opposed to relocating. I can only think of two or three times in the 8 plus years I've been in the job when we've sent more than an engine truck and chief. The first was in 1997 for a job in Pelham Manor in a big @$$ H-Type right off the Hutch, and in 03 when we send just about a Second Alarm Assignment up to Yonkers for a job on Bronx River Road.

[IzzyEng4 427]

I think the artical actually stated what was sent mutual aid from FDNY. I can't remember through.

[mfc2257 464]

Thanks for the reply on the NJ job.

I remember the job in Pelham. We were there with Rescue 36 early on in the fire to fill bottles (this was back when R-36 was still one of a handful of mobile cascades with 8 6500lb+ bottles). We had a decent sized crew. A few men stayed with the rig to fill bottles and the rest of went to work. We operated on the same floor with a crew from FDNY for a brief period of time.

The only other time I've seen FDNY operating out of their own box was at the SMRP NB @ the Cross County EB interchange for a pin job. Truck & Engine 52 out of Riverdale were dispactched to a job that should have gone to Yonkers. The YFD OIC kept them on the job to work.

[JBE 328]

If I remember correctly, the Chief of the 15 Battalion would have dumped a 3rd on arrival if not for the fact it wasn't his job. Sometimes that Saw Mill gets a little tricky(thank you cell phones and silly people).

[Shantz02 0]

That Pelham Manor job was actually within spitting distance of I-95 at the Biltmore Apartments on US 1. Just about everyone and their mother was at it. My DC had parked his personal vehicle on the side street and when he finally got out of there around noon, an FDNY tiller was set up where he had been parked.

Ive also seen FDNY go to work on the Hutch just over the border (US 1). They usually have the box long before the Westchester dept. gets it and will ride as far north as the exit next to Pelham High School to find it.

[Truck4 48]

FDNY went to work at the Nodine Hill fire in Yonkers, 2 days before the Bronx River Road job. They also came up for the Con Ed plant fire October 30, 1996.

[JBE 328]

Mount Vernon operated in the City a few weeks back. Box came in about 5 minutes before we got it. There was another one about a week later where Pelham was operating.