Setting up New York City's Fire Department

The city's first firehouse was built in 1736 in front of City Hall on Broad Street.

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 and 2 new fire engines who would remain on call in exchange for exemption from jury and militia duty. The city's first official firemen were required to be "able, discreet, and sober men who shall be known as Firemen of the City of New York, to be ready for service by night and by day and be diligent, industrious and vigilant."

The city's oldest fire company still in operation was organized July 10, 1772 as Hook and Ladder Co. 1. The company was disbanded in 1776 when the British Army invaded Manhattan following the Continental Army's loss at the Battle of Brooklyn and the resulting loss of Manhattan after the Landing at Kip's Bay, and most of the firefighters making up the company fled the city. Following the British Evacuation of New York in November 1783, on June 16, 1784, Mutual Hook and Ladder 1 was reorganized. The company operated continuously during the volunteer fire department days, and on the organization of the Paid System, Hook and Ladder Company No.1 was created September 8, 1865, using the same location, the same truck and the same red cap fronts as Mutual Hook and Ladder No.1 did, and nine of her twelve members had served in the old company. It was the only company that was continued with the same number and location, and might be said that Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 has had a continuous existence since June 16, 1784. The company has moved firehouses several times since its inception, and has been housed at 100 Duane Street in Tribeca since December 31, 1905, with Engine 7 and Battalion 1. The company later became the first Tower Ladder company in the city in 1964.

Although the 1737 Act created the basis of the fire department, the actual legal entity was incorporated in the State of New York under the name of "Fire Department, City of New York" in 1798.

The New York City Fire Department's first reservoir, an octagonal building was erected near the southeast corner of 13th Street and Fourth Avenue.

After 2 tenement fires, laws were passed requiring all new tenement structures to be equipped with Fire Escape Laws.

The volunteer fire department was abolished by a state act which created the Metropolitan Fire District and the Metropolitan Fire Department (MFD). This effectively gave control of the fire departments in the cities of New York and Brooklyn to the Governor

The MFD lasted until 1870 when the Tweed Charter ended state control in the city. As a result, a new Board of Fire Commissioners was created and the original name of the Fire Department City of New York (FDNY) was reinstated.

Public buildings, hotels, boarding houses, office buildings and factories are included in the NY State expansion of Fire Escape laws. The laws required iron or stone fire escapes on buildings with more than eight families and prohibited the use of fire escapes as extra space.

The different areas of New York were consolidated. All the fire forces in the various sections were brought under the unified command of the first Commissioner in the Fire Department.