New York City Fire Department Ladder Company 3

History

The company was established as Metropolitan Hook & Ladder Company No. 3 on September 11, 1865, which was located at 78 East 13th Street at the former quarters of Friendship Hook and Ladder Company No. 12. It is one of New York's oldest ladder companies, and was one of the first six hook and ladder companies organized when the Metropolitan Fire Department was created that same year.

The current two-story brick fire house, which was designed by architect John R. Sliney, was opened by New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker on October 8, 1929. The new fire house served as the quarters of Hook & Ladder Company 3, Water Tower No. 2 and Battalion Chief 6, replacing an earlier structure that had occupied the site. When the building opened, it housed a new water tower built by the Seagrave Corporation. Designated as Water Tower No. 2, the apparatus could be raised to a height of 65 ft in thirty seconds and was capable of delivering 3,000 USgal of water a minute to fight fires in skyscrapers.

On July 11, 1984, a plaque was dedicated at the fire house as a memorial to the members of Ladder Company 3 and Battalion 6 that were killed in the line of duty. The plaque was installed following a visit to the fire house by the son of Francis Donelon, a firefighter from Hook and Ladder Company 3 who was killed on August 10, 1930 while fighting a fire on the Third Avenue Elevated when the ladder he was on was struck by a train.

During the September 11 attacks, the company reported to the North Tower of the World Trade Center. As the time of the attacks coincided with the morning tour change, both tours remained on duty, and the company arrived at the World Trade Center carrying more men than usual. Captain Patrick J. Brown and his men were last known to be on the 35th floor of the tower before the North Tower collapsed. Ladder Company 3 was last Chauffered by Firefighter Michael T. Carroll, and received some of the heaviest casualties of any fire company in the FDNY.

Ladder Company 3's apparatus, a Seagrave rearmount ladder truck placed in service in 1994, shop number SL9413, was parked on West Street next to Six World Trade Center. It was damaged beyond repair by the collapse of the Twin Towers and spent ten years housed at Hangar 17 at JFK Airport. In 2011, the ladder truck was made part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The flag-covered, 60,000 lb truck was lowered by crane 70 ft below ground and observed by firefighters, victims' families and other bystanders, as the FDNY Emerald Society performed "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes as they would at the funeral of a fallen FDNY member. It is intended to represent the members it lost on September 11 as well as all FDNY casualties.

In December 2001, an exhibit of photos of Ladder Company 3 taken in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks was displayed at the Portland Museum of Art. The opening of the exhibit was attended by nine firefighters from Ladder Company 3 and a parade was to honor them and those that died. The following year, 60 Minutes II visited Ladder Company 3, speaking with the firefighters left after the September 11 attacks and the new firefighters that were assigned to the company as replacements. One of the firefighters interviewed was Mike Moran, who was off duty during the September 11 attacks and got caught in traffic trying to drive from his home in Rockaway Beach to the World Trade Center site. During The Concert for New York City held at Madison Square Garden on October 20, 2001, Moran had spoken to the audience, explaining that his brother and 12 members of Ladder 3 were killed on 9/11, and that the victims would not be forgotten.

In 2013, firefighters from Ladder Company 3 built a wooden simulation structure on the rooftop of the fire house, consisting of a 12 ft wall and a window, which is used to practice performing rescues. The lumber used to construct the training equipment was purchased using a grant received from two insurance companies, which also enabled the purchase of new fitness equipment for the gym in the basement of the fire house. Ladder Company 3 was nominated for the award by the Gramercy Park Block Association as a tribute to the men from the fire house killed during the September 11 attacks.

References

Notes

Citations

References

1. (1859). "Annual Report of the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of the City of New York". Chas. W. Baker.
2. (1866). "Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Fire Department".
3. "Ladder Company 3 Manhattan".
4. Hoffmann, Henry B.. (July 1937). "Changed House Numbers and Lost Street Names in New York of the Early Nineteenth Century and Later". The New-York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin.
5. (1865). "Annual Report of the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of the City of New York". Edmund Jones & Co..
6. (September 12, 1865). "Local Intelligence; Metropolitan Fire Department". The New York Times.
7. (September 28, 1865). "The Fire Department; How Far the Work of Reorganization has Progressed". The New York Times.
8. Louisa Winchell. (September 11, 2020). "A Local Firehouse With Two Seminal Connections to 9-11". Village Preservation.
9. "Building Permit Search".
10. (October 8, 1929). "$300,000 Fire Trucks Reviewed By Mayor". The New York Times.
11. (November 13, 1929). "Searchlights Presented to New York". Fire Engineering.
12. (April 1929). "A New Water Tower for New York City". Fire Protection.
13. (July 6, 1984). "Honoring the heroes". New York Daily News.
14. (July 12, 1984). "New York Day by Day; Firefighters' Memorial". The New York Times.
15. (August 11, 1930). "Fireman Is Killed As Train Hits Ladder". The New York Times.
16. Michael Daly. (September 12, 2011). "You can feel their presence, and only hope that somehow they feel ours, too". New York Daily News.
17. (September 13, 2001). ""These are big strong guys. They ain't going down easy"".
18. Frank Raffa. "Apparatus Lost on 9/11/01".
19. Giselle Goodman. (December 12, 2001). "Parade, photo exhibit honor N.Y. firefighters". Portland Press Herald.
20. David Kohn. (September 3, 2002). "Ladder 3: After The Fall". CBS News.
21. (September 3, 2002). "Ladder 3". Columbia Broadcasting System.
22. John Carlson. (October 24, 2001). "Iowa's adoptive N.Y.C. firefighter challenges bin Laden". The Des Moines Register.
23. Heather Holland. (May 22, 2013). "Union Square Firehouse Builds Rooftop Rescue Simulation With $5K Grant". DNAinfo.