The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) is well known as the birthplace of the American rescue company. And for the past 100 years, perhaps nothing is more iconic to the quintessential image and duties of a rescue company than Manhattan’s Rescue Company 1 (Rescue 1). Rescue 1 has had an incredible history within the FDNY, yet it also has a unique history with the international fire service and its firefighters. This is because virtually every firefighter who has been to New York City has made an obligatory visit to Rescue 1 as a mandatory tour stop like the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty and has developed some sort of lasting relationship with the company.
I have my own history and memories with the company, and it has become a very near and dear part of my career and personal life: from sitting in on one of the roll calls in the late ’90s and watching the great Terry Hatton himself in his element to lifelong friendships with some of Rescue 1’s current and former officers and firefighters. I’m also fortunate as my experiences and relationship with Rescue 1 continue to this very day with the addition of Paul Hashagen, one of Rescue 1’s most prominent and iconic firefighters in its history, to the monthly pages of FireRescue. Hashagen is the defacto historian of Rescue Company 1 and one of its most decorated firefighters. He entered the FDNY in 1978 and retired in 2003, with 20 of those years spent in Rescue 1. In 2015, Rescue 1 celebrated its centennial anniversary, and Hashagen dug even deeper into Rescue 1’s early days to bring us the storied history over the century with his amazing new book: One Hundred Years of Valor: Rescue Company 1 New York City Fire Department Rescue 1915-2015.
Rescue 1
Rescue 1 was established in 1915 with 10 firefighters selected from hundreds of volunteers within the FDNY. These men possessed conventional skill sets from trades outside of firefighting and worked as iron workers, elevator men, masons, etc., thereby lending these skill sets in establishing a new kind of firefighter for the FDNY-and eventually, the world.
Building on their knowledge and skills in the trades, these men developed new equipment and firefighting techniques to go where no other firefighter could at the time. They handled explosives, chemicals, and toxic leaks and were deployed at the most dangerous incidents at the time including cellar and subcellar fires, fires in the holds of ships, and searching within collapsed buildings. Over the next 100 years, these firefighters added tools, equipment, and techniques to their capabilities such as rope rescues, hazardous materials, and dive rescues. But what really makes any company is the firefighters who established, endured, and left legacies for its future. And Hashagen has done a tremendous job of putting Rescue 1’s people, history, rescues, and tragedy together in one book.
Illustrated History
The first thing you will notice when opening the book and flipping through the pages before delving in is the complete and vivid use of photos to depict the members, events, and operations of Rescue 1 over the century. The book’s publisher, M.T. Publishing Company, obviously spared no production expense in keeping every photo it could get into the final product. This was very telling to me, as I’ve seen countless centennial books over the years that are forced to pick the few photos they can’t live without because of page counts, at the expense of the importance of these companies’ visual history.
Hashagen has broken the company’s history down by decade, with corresponding photography of Rescue 1’s equipment, people, and rescues showing the progression of rescue work and the tools. Each chapter describes in vivid detail the accomplishments of Rescue 1 with, at times, blow-by-blow reports of famous rescues, fires, and events, even describing the time when the company had to don surgical gowns in the hospital to assist doctors with removing part of a fence from an impaled victim. Until this book’s publication, most never knew the lengths these firefighters went to in their duties over the past 100 years, and this is discovered in every chapter of the book.
The book also has an excellent appendix dedicated to its company commanders, firehouses, awards, unit citations, and the medals awarded to its members. The index further provides the reader with the opportunity to go look for a familiar name right away, if desired.
In the Action
One Hundred Years of Valor is everything you need to get caught up with the most recognizable company in the world. Paul Hashagen has done a truly great job in bringing the reader right into the back of Rescue 1’s rig with its people over the past 100 years.
I recommend getting your hands on this book and stopping in to Rescue 1’s quarters at 530 W. 43rd Street in Manhattan for a visit, as its history is evident the second you walk in.
As Rescue 1’s legacy begins another century, its members enjoy a remarkable history, and their work will evolve in perpetuity. I hope it is captured as well as the first century was as we now have a template for what its next centennial book should look like.
You can purchase One Hundred Years of Valor: Rescue Company 1 New York City Fire Department Rescue 1915-2015 by Paul Hashagen directly from M.T. Publishing at http://mtpublishing.com.
And don’t forget to check out Hashagen’s Distant Fires column each month, only in FireRescue.
