—FDNY photo by Ray Hellriegd
最大的城市采用球队体系pioneer days of platoons was Chicago, where three auxiliary squad companies of 12 men each were installed January 15, 1913, and where the utilization of squad personnel has since been developed to a greater degree than in any other city. Like Detroit’s flying squadrons, the original Chicago squads were organized principally to quickly carry extra men to the fire ground to reinforce companies operating shorthanded. It was the adoption of the twoplatoon system without an increase in the manual force sufficient to maintain minimum company strengths that caused Chief Charles F. Seyferlich to turn to the auxiliary squad plan.
Chicago extended the squad company service to the entire city between July of 1919 and February of 1920 by adding seven more units. Three additional squads have since been organized, to give a total of 13. In developing the squad service the Chicago department enlarged the scope of the squads’ operations and equipped and trained them for special-duty fire operations, as well as rescue work and public ambulance service in emergencies when the fire department’s public ambulances are not able to cover all calls. A common sight at Chicago multiple-alarm fire scenes has long been the playing of heavy streams from the turret pipes which are a feature of the squad apparatus.
The History of Fire Department Manpower Units
—Continued
From Flying Squadrons to Squads—
The New York Fire Department first used squad units as a partial solution to the critical manpower shortage problems of World Wars I and II. The first trial, in 1918, utilized members of the auxiliary corps to man a unit called the “Flying Squadron,” located in the former quarters of Engine 40 at 153 West 68th Street, where auxiliary corps headquarters were established. Members of the regular force were assigned to drive the extra-size hose tender which was fitted up as a personnel carrier and which rolled with as many as 30 men aboard. The squad was assigned to respond to second alarms in Manhattan, and third alarms in the Bronx. It was discontinued in 1919.
When World War II again brought the potentially critical problem of shortage of fire fighters caused by the draft and the department’s inability to recruit replacements, Commissioner Patrick Walsh and Assistant Chief-inCommand John J. McCarthy decided to install squad companies at strategic locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The first of these units, Auxiliary Squad Company 21, was organized October 28, 1943 at the quarters of Ladder Company 24, and equipped with a converted hose tender, and carried some minor fire fighting appliances. On November 30, the second of the auxiliary companies was organized in Brooklyn by converting Engine Company 204 to a squad unit, and about a month later Engine Company 20 in Manhattan was also reorganized as Auxiliary Squad Company 22. The quota for each of the squad companies was established at three lieutenants and 30 firemen, working the three platoon system.
The order organizing the New York auxiliary squad sendee of 1943 stated the function as: “The primary purpose of the squad companies will be to furnish added manpower whenever conditions at a fire, or other emergency, warrant; such as, for stretching and operating additional hose lines, assisting on hose lines, replenishing manpower affected at fires, for raising ladders, or for conditions where the need for additional men is imperative. Members of the squad companies shall not be detained at a fire or other emergency longer than necessary in fulfilling the purposes above mentioned. They shall not be held for overhauling operations after a fire is under control.”
The three squad companies continued to operate until May 1945, when Engines 20 and 204 returned to their former status and Auxiliary Squad Company 21 was disbanded, the war emergency having ended.
One of the first projects undertaken by Commissioner Edward F. Cavanagh, Jr. on assuming management of FDNY in February 1954, was a study of heavily populated sections of the city where living and housing conditions caused a high incidence of fires and life loss, and often resulted in critical situations of a shortage of apparatus companies because of numerous simultaneous fires and fire emergencies.
These studies showed that the problem was one of districts being stripped of adequate protection by a number of one-alarm fires occurring at the same time, rather than concentration of apparatus companies at multiplealarm fires when covering movements of locating units would be made by an established prearranged routine. The installation of a type of fire company which could be kept “mobile” for fast movement to any location where a critical situation existed, was explored as one solution to the problem.
The idea was adopted and the resulting squad companies are “flying squadrons” in the fullest meaning of the term, being used by commanding officers at fires in such ways as to fulfill the purposes for which they were organized — coverage of incidents where the response of regular engine and ladder services is delayed or inadequate because of a multiplicity of simultaneous calls, or other reasons. Squad company commanders are cautioned about the absolute requirement that their units not be “boxed in” or tied down in any way which might prevent their fast movement to other boxes or return to quarters, if not ordered to operate at the location to which they have responded.
的基本概念f the value of squad companies, and the method of their use in meeting problems peculiar to fire fighting in parts of New York City, are sound, is attested by the expansion of the service since Squad Company 1 was organized April 16, 1955, and the development of squad practices along the lines originally laid down. Since the first unit was put in service in 1955, eight others have been established in areas requiring the concentrated attention of the department.
The standard equipment is enclosedbody-type apparatus having individual seats for the men alongside compartments storing the masks and other equipment provided for the specialized operations of the squad service. The squad companies are assigned only on first alarms to boxes in the defined areas, but may be specialcalled as needed.
In addition to the nine squad companies, there are five rescue companies in the FDNY, but their functions are distinct from the duties of the other services, and do not fall into the classification covered by this article. There are many rescue squads in service around the country and their equipment and scope of operations is contemplated as the subject of a later article.
The Boston engine-squad companies are a distinctive type of fire service unit which more properly belong in a description of the rescue companies. They are really deserving of special treatment, and it is expected this will be done in the near future.
