Engine 24: Fire Stories, Books 1, 2, and 3 (Unabridged‪)‬

The story that follows was written from notes I wrote on May 28, 1964, the day after the Jersey City Pier fire. The following paragraph is from an article that appeared in the third issue of W.N.Y.F in 1964, written by John J. Cunningham, the deputy assistant chief of the Marine Division. He described the scene perfectly.

"On the night of May 27, 1964, thousands of New York City residents, whose dwellings overlook the Hudson River in lower Manhattan, had ringside seats for a spectacular wind-fanned waterfront fire that lit up the Jersey shore. A fire that, before it was brought under control some hours later, taxed the combined efforts of four FDNY marine companies, five FDNY Engine companies, 16 JCFD fire companies, 14 Coast Guard vessels, and 21 Pennsylvania R.R. tug boats. Units from nearby Bayonne, Hoboken, and West New York manned the vacant Jersey City firehouses. Residents as far away as Brooklyn discovered evidence of the fire on their sidewalks and lawns the following morning."