Fire Engines Photos

Paul, what a pity they mucked around with the lettering above the doors,, what's the difference between a squad and an engine company I wonder?? Regards from Perth,,

Added by Pav on 14 October 2009.

Hi Pav, this along with lots of other fire houses in Manhattan is steeped in history with some fantastic buildings I too noticed the alteration above the doors when I was there. I think a Squad is a first due engine to an incident in their turnout area but also carries out technical rescue such as high angle/line rescue. They told me they 'bridge the gap' between engine and ladder crews and the rescue companies.

Added by Paul Warnock on 14 October 2009.

Pavel,the lettering above the door originally said Engine Co 18.Looks like its starting to be removed,maybe for the word Squad to be added.
Squad Co18 was organized along with 5 other Engine Company's,ie-41-61-252-270 and 288 until 1998,this then giving the FDNY a total of 7 Squad Company's.
Engine Co/Squad Co:-An Engine Company is a normal fire appliance(apparatus)that carries standard firefighting equipment,where as a Squad Company carries a full compliment of engine company tools,high expansion foam generator,and in adition,is equipped with a full compliment of truck(Ladder)company hand tools and power saws to enable them to operate as a truck company.I think maybe though I should just mension that the origin of the Squad was not as a pump/rescue apparatus,but as an additional manpower pump-but thats history,and thats another long story.Pete.



Added by Pete Matten on 14 October 2009.

Paul and Pete, thanks for the feedback guys. When you think about it, in a city the size of NY it is no wonder they have specialist units such as this to handle the difficult and technical jobs. I would imagine to be a member of a squad one would have to possess competencies above the norm? There must a spirit of the elite about these guys, perhaps,,,,? Very interesting.

Added by Pav on 15 October 2009.

One reason for the six Squad companies in New York is that FDNY operates only five Rescue companies (compared to 13 in London, for example).

In addition, the rescue role in New York City is shared with NYPD, who operate numerous additional "Emergency Services" police rescue units - including several which are very well equipped along similar lines to the FDNY heavy rescue trucks.

As accidents take up an ever-increasing number of calls, and the number of fires continues to diminish, it seems likely that the Squad companies may be increased. The only thing preventing this from happening is that all FDNY's 176 ladder compnaies already carry a full compliment of extrication equipment, so they are never far from any rescue incident that might occur.

The original Squad concept Pete refers to was once fairly common here, and simply meant that a small number of engine companies dispersed around a city would have extra manpower. These would function as normal engine companies, but would also be selected to respond to multiple alarm fires. In New York, they had lower capacity pumps for some reason, but in several other cities like Detroit, they rode special 2000 GPM high capacity pumpers. I think Portland Oregon may still have this system, but it has pretty much disappeared elsewhere.

As for squad members having special skills, quite a few departments now cross-train engine and ladder company members as a matter of course, and many also insist that all personnel are EMT or even paramedic certified.

Added by Rob Johnson on 14 January 2014.

To round out this discussion of FDNY squad company roles and competencies, I should add that their members are also trained in hazmat operations.

Each squad station has a hazmat tender, parked alongside or behind the engine, which is driven by one of the engine crew as and when they respond to a hazmat incident. The Special Operations Command also has full size dedicated hazmat trucks, but in many cases the nearest squad can respond more quickly and start to deal with the incident before they can srrive.

Added by Rob Johnson on 19 June 2018.

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