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 8: The Process of Professionalization

"The introduction of steam, and the conversion of the volunteer into the paid system, and... its necessary attendants--control and discipline . . .have changed the position of the fireman; and although to stand and resist a fire amidst clouds of smoke, to fearlessly enter a burning building, to fight the fire inch by inch at personal risk... help to make the record of a good fireman, they are not the sole essentials... the Board require something more. The only officers who will be appointed by them will be men familiar with the use of their apparatus, with the existing orders of the Department, with the care and use of horses, with the use of the implements associated with their apparatus, with the forms of the returns and reports used in the Companies... they should read and write a legible hand, and should have that sense of self-respect and intelligence which will enable them to control, as well as instruct, the men under their command..."
The Fourth Annual Report of the Metropolitan Fire Department of the City of New York,
Annual Message of Alexander Shaler, President of the Board of Fire Commissioners, New York, 1869, page 6

Paying firefighters in the Metropolitan Fire Department was only the first step in a process that would make firefighting in New York more efficient and effective. The goal was the creation of a smaller but highly professional fire department. By early 1866, the city had paid firefighters organized into 34 engine companies and 12 ladder companies, equipped with steam engines, horses, and a telegraph system for communication.

Starting in 1867, in an effort to keep better control over the department, Alexander T. Shaler, President of the Board of Fire Commissioners and a retired Civil War general, reorganized the department along military lines. He demanded military-style discipline, and set rules of conduct and other regulations intended to enhance the department's efficiency.

Officers were required to meet higher standards. Classes of instruction for officers began in 1869, and their promotion was based upon competitive examinations. The benefits of these changes were large. In 1866 the losses by fire in New York City totaled $6,428,000. In 1869, the total had fallen to only $2,626,393. And this improvement was achieved with a much smaller force: in 1865 when the city first started paying the members of the department, it had 3,421 men.

In 1870, the department was functioning with a mere 599 members. It was in that year that the city took back control of its fire department from the state and the Fire Department of the City of New York that exists today was established. Meanwhile, the role of the paid fire department in New York City continued to grow, as it extended service into the "suburban districts" above 86th Street in 1870, and into parts of the Bronx which were annexed to the city in 1874.