Posts Tagged ‘Ladder 136’
Tombstone Territory
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just a short posting today, and as you might observe, your humble narrator has been hanging out around cemeteries again. The other day, as I was leaving Calvary via the Greenpoint Avenue Gates, I spotted Ladder 128’s truck (which had apparently just been washed) sparkling in the cascading emanations of the thermonuclear eye of god itself. As I’ve mentioned in the past, the subject of the NYFD and their wonderful equipment reduces me to early childhood. When a fire engine or ladder truck screams past with lights and sirens on, it is a very difficult thing for me not to run after it yelling “Firemen, Firemen!!!”.
from nypost.com
Ladder 128 has played an integral role in the community over the past 100 years, and the stories from within the house were feted as that which makes a life complete by the hundreds who attended Friday’s celebration at the Blissville location. The firehouse covers the areas of Blissville, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside and Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
“Ladder 128 has produced some true strong leaders,” Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said. “%u2026 You’ve responded to some of the toughest fires we’ve had. Members of Ladder 128 have served this city with distinction.”
Chief of Department Edward Kilduff called the centennial a tremendous milestone for the firehouse, nicknamed “tombstone territory” thanks to its location across from Calvary Cemetery, one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in the country.
“This is one of the most diverse areas in the city,” Kilduff said. “You have everything here from high-rises to tunnels to rail yards. The commercial buildings are extreme challenges for anybody. A place like this really represents the heart and soul in the Fire Department.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Far away from the carven hillocks of Calvary, along the graven lanes of Broadway in Astoria, that’s Engine 263 and Ladder 163 doing something important that involved the ancient Subway platform at 46th street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What I believe is Ladder 136 at the scene of a 5 alarm fire in a Dutch Kills commercial building last year.
The Newtown Pentacle 