On Saturday May 21, 2007 Ladder 30 of the FDNY celebrated their 100 years in service. Ladder 30 is also known as “The Harlem Zoo” becuase of having to fight fires in the always changing neighborhood over the last 100 years. Ladder 30 shares a house with Engine 59 in Harlem New York.
“The first thing I have to do is straighten out a rumor that Lieutenant Lester Kirk and Chief Billmore we here when the company was organized 100 years ago,” said FDNY Chief William Siegal.
Ladder 30 has responded to some major events in their history. Fires included the General Slocum steamer fire in 1904 in which more then 1000 people died (most of them children), and the Collyer Brothers Mansion in 1947.
At the ceremony the departments chaplain blessed new plaques in honor of the seven firefighters who have died in the line of duty over the history of Ladder 30. There was also another plaque that will represent the history of the company and the future…”As you continue to respond to each alarm that comes to you in this 21st century – this new millennium – may this plaque remind you that every firefighter that has served in there 100 years still rides with you on every run,” said FDNY chaplain, Father Chris Keenan.
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