On its 150th anniversary, FDNY invites citizens for an open house on May 2 and urges all New Yorkers to install a fire alarm and learn CPR
BY DANIEL NIGRO
FOR THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, April 26, 2015, 12:01 AM
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BARRY WILLIAMS/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSMayor de Blasio swears in Daniel Nigro as FDNY fire commissioner last June. Nigro is accompanied by his wife Lynn.
The New York City Fire Department this year celebrates an extraordinary milestone — 150 years of bravely protecting life and property in the world’s greatest city.
We are an organization with a mission that is simple to describe yet difficult to accomplish. Above all else, we serve the public and when you call us, we come to help.
Race, creed, sex, status — these do not matter to us — we come as quickly as we can, and we do so as we’ve done for 150 years, knowing the inherent risks of our job.
Many — too many — of our members have made the ultimate sacrifice fulfilling their sworn oaths to our great city. Many more have been seriously injured. But still, when the alarm goes off, our members do not hesitate to respond.
We are an organization of 16,000 members — firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, fire marshals, dispatchers, fire inspectors, mechanics, tradespeople and many more dedicated professional civilians — who work incredibly hard to serve our city. We are sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, veterans, and, above all else, New Yorkers. We never close and we are always a phone call away.
This being our birthday, like most people, there are several things we’re wishing for.
l We want to celebrate with you.
On Saturday, May 2, we are opening the doors to our firehouses and EMS Stations and inviting you in for our first-ever citywide Open House.
We want the people we serve to meet the members of our Department, to see the tools and apparatus they use every day and to know that the FDNY is an integral part of every community. We want to show you why Forbes Magazine recently named the FDNY the number one government agency to work for in America, and why our members steadfastly believe we have the “best job in the world.”
- We want every New Yorker to have a working smoke alarm in their home. The message we provide at thousands of fire safety education events each year is simple, but so very important: Working smoke alarms save lives. We will continue to distribute smoke alarms at fire safety events all year long, including more than 6,000 alarms that will be available in all five boroughs at our Open House event.
- We want every New Yorker — teenagers and adults — to learn CPR so they, too, can step forward to save a life if someone they know and love, or even a stranger needs a hero. To date, we have trained 100,000 New Yorkers in this life-saving knowledge, and will teach 5,000 New York City high school students this year alone.
- But most of all, we want every young boy and girl, in every neighborhood we serve, to know if they have the drive and dedication it takes to serve this city, we have a future for them in the FDNY.
My father was a New York City firefighter before me. My earliest memories are of speaking to him about being a firefighter, something he loved nearly as much as he loved his family. I followed him into the profession and took the oath of office at the age of 21 with a smile from ear to ear. I have never once, even on the darkest of days, regretted that decision.
This history of the FDNY is extraordinary. We believe our future is as well.
The men and women who make up the FDNY are committed to keeping our city safe and honoring the generations of heroes who came before us. Together, we are building the next 150 years and beyond for this storied department. We are your Fire Department, and we hope you will join us in this year of celebration.
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I can't imagine why so many people don't have smoke alarms.
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