In addition to responding to building types that range from wood-frame single family homes to high-rise structures, there are many secluded bridges and tunnels, the New York City Subway system, as well as large parks and wooded areas that can give rise to brush fires.

[16] Hooks, ladders and buckets were financed through the collection of fines for dirty chimneys, and a fire watch was established, consisting of eight wardens which were drawn from the male population.

An organisation known as the prowlers but given the nickname the rattle watch patrolled the streets with buckets, ladders and hooks from nine in the evening until dawn looking for fires.

A year later, on December 16, 1737, the colony's General Assembly created the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York, appointing 30 men who would remain on call in exchange for exemption from jury and militia duty.

This effectively gave control of the fire departments in the cities of New York and Brooklyn to the Governor who appointed his Board of Commissioners.

The change met with a mixed reaction from the citizens, and some of the eliminated volunteers became bitter and resentful, which resulted in both political battles and street fights.

Southwestern Westchester County (which would later become the western Bronx) was annexed by New York in 1874; as a result, the volunteers there were phased out and replaced by the paid department.

[31] On March 17, 1996, Mayor Rudy Giuliani merged the emergency medical services of the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation into the FDNY.

On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were hijacked by two separate groups of five Islamic terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda and flown into the World Trade Center's North and South Towers respectively, causing massive damage to both towers during impact, and starting fires that caused the weakened 110-story skyscrapers to collapse within less than two hours.

[32] FDNY fire companies and EMS crews were deployed to the World Trade Center minutes after Flight 11 struck the north tower.

Chief officers set up a command center in the lobby as first arriving units entered the tower and firefighters began climbing the stairs.

Among the arriving units were career and volunteer personnel from Upstate New York, Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida.

During the Northeast Blackout of 2003, FDNY was called on to rescue hundreds of people from stranded elevators in approximately 800 Manhattan high-rise office and apartment buildings.

[45] Robert Tucker is the current commissioner of the FDNY, appointed by Eric Adams after Laura Kavanagh resigned in August 2024.

Together with ambulances run by certain participating hospitals (locally known as voluntaries, not to be confused with volunteers) and private companies, it is known as the FDNY EMS Command, which is the largest pre-hospital care provider in the world, responding to over 1.5 million calls each year.

[59] A citywide Incident Management System plan released by the Office of the Mayor on May 14, 2004 set forth several "core competencies," which determine which agency has the authority to direct operations.

[61] Initial training of all firefighter candidates undergo an 18-week academy that consists of classroom education and physical fitness performance.

The entire process from initial notification until a unit is dispatched can take up to two minutes, depending on the complexity of the call, the information provided by the caller(s), and the degree of other alarm activity in the office.

When a member of the public dials 911, the caller is connected to a police department operator, who assigns the call to where it needs to go based on the information provided.

Fire alarm dispatchers handle comparatively few medical calls made directly to them, since the vast majority of such incidents are routed straight to the FDNY's EMS communications office by the NYPD 9-1-1 operators.

If there is also a street address given to the dispatchers, the responding apparatus will get this information in the firehouse, over the air, and via their mobile data terminals in the rigs—in addition to the Box number.

The New York City Fire Department utilizes a system of ten-code radio signals, in addition to an internal one involving "bell codes" (that their origin to the days when coded telegraph signals were sent over a closed, wired system within the Department) to transmit and relay information involving both emergency communications and general, Departmental operations.

The FDNY is currently one of the last, large fire departments in the country using "10-Codes," as opposed to "plain English," to communicate information by radio.

[67] The two new boats cost $60 million, funded by a grant from the Department of Homeland Security, and represented the city's first major investment in new fireboats in 50 years.

The $2.4 million Bravest, commissioned on May 26, 2011, is smaller than the other two Class I boats, at 65 feet, but is able to operate in shallower waters, including those near the city's airports.

They are especially needed in urgent events, such as storms that can cause flooding conditions that prevent FDNY companies from reaching alarms promptly.

"Report from Engine Co. 82", "20,000 Alarms", and "The Last Men Out: Life on the Edge at Rescue 2 Firehouse" are three of the most famous pieces of FDNY literature.

[80] The documentary focused heavily on firefighter Dennis Smith, who served in the South Bronx area and went on to write Report from Engine Co. 82 and a number of other books.

Ladder Company 8's house at 14 North Moore Street in Tribeca was reportedly chosen because writer Dan Aykroyd knew the area and liked the building.

A 2006 PBS documentary called Taking The Heat features the struggle of women to join the FDNY, and Brenda Berkman's part in it.