Boston Fire Department

The Boston Fire Department traces its roots back to 1631, a year after the city was founded, when the first fire ordinance was adopted. In what then was the Massachusetts Bay Colony of the Kingdom of England, the city banned thatched roofs and wooden chimneys. However, it wasn't until 1653 that the first hand engine was appropriated to provide pressure for water lines.[4][5]

In 1678, the city founded a paid fire department, and hired Thomas Atkins to be the first fire chief.[4] On February 1, 1711, the town appointed a group of Fire Wards, each responsible for the operation and maintenance of equipment assigned to a region of the city.[6] The grandfather and great grandfather of Herman Melville, Thomas Melvill, served as a town fire ward from 1779 to 1825, and Allen Melvill, served as an early firefighter 1733 to 1761.[7][8] It was not until 1799 that the first leather fire hose was used, after being imported from England.[4]

Firemen's Memorial (Boston) by John A. Wilson

The department underwent its first reorganization in 1837 when the hand engine department reorganized, reducing the number of active engines to fourteen.[6] By December 31, 1858, the department had 14 hand engines, 3 hook and ladder carriages, and 6 hydrant (hose) carriages.[6] On November 1, 1859, Engine Co. 8 began service as the first steam engine in the department. The reorganization of 1859-60 replaced the department's 14 hand engines with 11 new steam engines, forming the departmental hierarchy still used today.[6]

The department was the first in the world to utilize the telegraph to alert fire fighters of an emergency, installing the system in 1851.[4] The first fire alarm was transmitted via the Fire Alarm Telegraph system on April 29, 1852.[6] The famous Boston fire of 1872 led to the appointment of a board of fire commissioners. The Boston Fire Department also provided assistance in the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908 and the Great Salem Fire of 1914.[6] The department purchased its first steam fireboat in 1873, and installed fire poles in the stations in 1881.[4]

On July 29, 1910, the department purchased its first motorized apparatus. From 1914 until 1923, horse drawn engines as well as steam and motorized engine companies were in use in Boston. Ladder 24 was the last company to replace its horses in 1923 when it became motorized.[6] In 1925, the last fire horses were retired.[4] It wasn't until 1926 that the last steam engine was converted to a motorized engine.[6] The department first started using radio communication in 1925, installing radios in the fireboats, chiefs' cars, and rescue companies.[4]

By 1960, the department operated 48 engines, 29 ladders, 1 rescue, and 2 fireboats.[6] By the end of the decade, the standard 85-foot (26 m) ladder trucks were replaced by 100-foot (30 m) aerial ladders with tillers.[6]

In the 1970s, the department experimented with lime-green colored apparatus, but reverted to the traditional red in 1984, when the Department made the switch to E-One fire apparatus.[6] In the early 1980s, an arson ring caused over 600 fires, many reaching multiple-alarm status. The group was ultimately caught and convicted.[6]

Also in the early 1980s, the Department experienced a dramatic number of cutbacks due to budget cuts. The number of Engine Companies dropped from 43 to 33, the Fire Brigade was disbanded (only to be reopened in the mid-80's), the number of Ladder Companies went from 28 to 21, and one of the two Tower Companies was disbanded and reduced to a regular Ladder Company (bringing the total to 22 Ladder Companies). Rescue 2 was disbanded, but reorganized in 1986.

On January 31, 2007, the department, Boston Police, and the United States Department of Homeland Security disposed of LED advertisements resembling the mooninite characters of the Cartoon Network show Aqua Teen Hungerforce for its movie which had premiered at the time, Aqua teen hunger force colon movie film for theaters as perpetrated by two males named "Sean Stevens" and "Steven Bardovsky". Both of them were hired by Turner Broadcasting, Interference, Inc., and Cartoon Network to display the aforementioned advertisements throughout the entire city and were mistaken for homemade explosives. A civil settlement was eventually reached with Turner, Interference, and Cartoon Network for some portion of the costs incurred by Boston Police and Department of Homeland Security in responding to the events. One of Cartoon Network's managerial staff also resigned in the aftermath.

On June 3, 2013, Chief Steve Abraira resigned citing public criticism from his deputies over his response to the Boston Marathon bombing.[9]

After sexual harassment complaints by several women, the Boston Fire Department agreed to improve conditions for women under the terms of the 1996 Hansford Decree, including providing gender-separated bathrooms and sleeping areas.[10]

In 2018, firefighter David Sanchez sexually assaulted a fellow firefighter in a firehouse on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain.[11] The victim, Nathalie Fontanez, later commented that the other men in the firehouse sided with the assailant, that she had been hazed and discriminated against because she was female and Latina, and that she had been retaliated against for reporting sexually inappropriate behavior.[12] She cited the example of being denied a promotion to the Fire Investigation Unit on the grounds it was for more senior firefighters, only to see the job go to a white man who started in the department on the same day.[12] The city reached a $3.2 million settlement for the complaint and launched a retraining initiative.[12] Other female firefighters also reported inappropriate comments, theft of equipment, finding their beds urinated in, inappropriate use of a cell phone app to locate an off-duty female firefighter, fears of being video recorded while naked, and a sexual assault that resulted in no disciplinary action.[10]

The Boston Globe reported that in 2018, out of about 1,500 firefighters, only 16 were women and 12 were African American or Hispanic.[11] The City of Boston was estimated to be 23% African American and 20% Hispanic in 2017.[13]

Each division within the Boston Fire Department utilizes a series of alphabetical radio call signs to designate each unit within a certain division.[24]

The first "Great Fire" of Boston destroyed 349 buildings on March 20, 1760.

The second "Great Fire" of Boston began on November 9, 1872. The fire destroyed 776 buildings, killed 13 people, and caused $75,000,000 in property damage.[4] The fire required mutual aid companies from as far away as New Haven, Connecticut and Manchester, New Hampshire.

The Cocoanut Grove fire was the second-deadliest single-building fire in American history. At 10:15 PM on November 28, 1942 the fire began when a short in the electrical wiring ignited gas leaking from a faulty refrigeration unit.[25] The fire eventually claimed 490 lives, and injured 166 more.[25] Only the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago had a higher death toll at 605.

At 2:35 PM on Saturday, June 17, 1972, an alarm from Box 1571 was received for the Hotel Vendome on Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay.[26] It took nearly three hours to get the 4-alarm blaze under control. At 5:28 PM, during overhaul operations, the southeast section of the building unexpectedly collapsed.[26] The collapse killed 9 Boston firefighters: Lieutenant Thomas J. Carroll (Engine 32), Lieutenant John E. Hanbury (Ladder 13), Firefighter Richard B. Magee (Engine 33), Firefighter Joseph F. Boucher (Engine 22), Firefighter Paul J. Murphy (Engine 32), Firefighter John E. Jameson (Engine 22), Firefighter Charles E. Dolan (Ladder 13), Firefighter Joseph P. Saniuk (Ladder 13) and Firefighter Thomas W. Beckwith (Engine 32); and injuring 8 more.[6] This fire was the worst tragedy in the history of the Boston Fire Department and one of the most deadly fires in the history of U.S. firefighting.

On the afternoon of March 26, 2014, firefighters responded to a report of a fire in a Beacon Street Brownstone in Boston's Back Bay.[27] It was reported that smoke was observed upon arrival. Shortly after crews entered the building, a mayday alarm was sounded as members of Engine 33 became trapped in the basement. Two firefighters, Lieutenant Edward Walsh of Engine Company 33 and Michael Kennedy of Ladder Company 15, were killed and 18 people were injured in this nine alarm fire.[28]