Education - FDNY History

A Quick History of the FDNY - by Peter Rothenberg and Geoff Giglierano
Chapter 1: Begining With a Blaze	Chapter 8: The Process of Professionalization
Chapter 2: The First Fire Engines	Chapter 9: Faster and Better in a Changing City
Chapter 3: Competition	Chapter 10: Covering More Ground
Chapter 4: Hear the Loud Alarm Bells	Chapter 11: Firefighting Starts Becoming a Science
Chapter 5: Pumpers and Politics	Chapter 12: Larger Events Affect the Department
Chapter 6: Decline of the Volunteer System	Chapter 13: FDNY and Times of Social Upheaval
Chapter 7: Volunteer Department's Demise	Chapter 14 The Job Goes On

Chapter 10: Covering More Ground

"...I invite your attention to the altered conditions of the Department as created by the consolidation of the various localities into one great city... It must have been apparent to the Commissioners who prepared the Charter for the consolidated city that a complete amalgamation of the fire forces of the localities which now constitute it was only a matter of time. In the Borough of Richmond and in many parts of Queens the volunteer forces are still maintained under the supervision of the Chief of Department. The management of the force in Brooklyn... has been brought in line with the management of the force in the boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx, and the whole machinery of the fire-extinguishing force has been running without any apparent friction."
Report of the Fire Department of the City of New York, for the Year Ending December 31, 1898, New York, 1899, pp.5-6

When New York City's first paid fire department began, it provided service only in certain parts of Manhattan. The Act of 1865 which created that department did establish a "Metropolitan Fire District" that included New York City and the City of Brooklyn. But in practice, Brooklyn's fire service remained independent and that city formed its own paid fire department in 1869. This changed on January 1, 1898 when Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond Counties merged into New York City. The FDNY absorbed the existing paid fire departments of Brooklyn and Long Island City at once and gradually replaced most of the volunteer companies that still existed in the out lying areas.