Fire Stations and Public Safety

Fire stations (also called fire halls, firemen’s halls and engine houses) are buildings or areas for storing and maintaining firefighting apparatuses, personal protective equipment, fire hoses and other specialized equipment. They often also provide working and living space for firefighters and their support staff. Fire stations also serve as the control point for dispatching emergency calls.

In the United States, municipally controlled fire departments are typically responsible for firehouses and other emergency response vehicles. They are also usually responsible for training, enforcing fire codes and providing other fire-related public safety services. Some cities have a single fire department for all boroughs or districts, while others operate multiple firehouses in distinct regions.

The largest and most widely recognized Fire Department in the world is the City of New York, FDNY. Founded in 1865, the FDNY is the world’s busiest and most highly-skilled emergency response agency. The FDNY responds to over a million emergencies each year, including fires, medical emergencies, traffic accidents, hazardous materials incidents, building collapses, and more.

Most fire departments are structured in units known as “fire companies.” In the FDNY, each company is made up of four to five firefighters who work on one shift. They are commanded by an officer, which is usually a lieutenant or captain. Each company has a truck, or rescue vehicle, ladder, and command vehicle that can be sent to the scene of an emergency.

Traditionally, firehouses were located at the center of the area they serve. In the City of New York, the earliest firehouses were built in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. By the mid-19th century, following a series of large fires and rising insurance rates, the FDNY was reorganized into a paid force. At that time, the firefighting profession had become a formalized trade, and professional firefighters became eligible for promotion through a merit system of advancement. The firehouses were also reorganized to move the living quarters above the garage, which reduced the risk of fire and increased the speed of response to calls.

The FDNY’s firefighting mission is unique because it must deal with many types of hazards that other municipal agencies do not encounter. Those hazards include the city’s dense population and wide range of building structures, including secluded bridges and tunnels, a vast subway system, tall buildings with narrow hallways and stairways, a large park, and a number of secluded wooded areas that can give rise to brush fires.

The FDNY receives emergency calls via telephone alarms or the city’s standardized seven-digit phone number, which is published in each borough’s directory under its own name. Telephone alarms are usually reported by calling 9-1-1, which is answered by a police department operator who then transfers the call to the proper borough fire department communications office. The fire department can also receive alarms via the borough’s radio frequency, or by dialing 0 and getting transferred to the corresponding borough dispatch office. Staten Island volunteer companies have teleprinters and operate on the FDNY Staten Island frequency, while Brooklyn, Queens and the first four volunteer companies in Queens have a separate teleprinter on the FDNY Manhattan frequency.