Rescue Company 3

 

 

Fire Department of the City of New York

1655 Washington Avenue between E 172nd and 173rd Streets

Architect: Ennead Associates (formerly Polshek Partnership Architects

Construction Manager: The LiRo Associates

In emergencies requiring specialized equipment and training, fire fighters turn to the Bronx-based Rescue Company 3—an elite, special operations facility of the N.Y.C.  Fire Department. The Company, also nicknamed “Big Blue,” serves the Bronx and Harlem 24/7 and is one of five such units in New York City.  Fire fighters in Rescue Company 3 save victims in collapsed buildings, water, subways and confined spaces.  They also respond in the event of chemical agent exposure or in situations requiring high angle rope work.  They rely on emergency equipment and implements such as the jaws-of-life, diamond blade saws, pneumatic jacks, climbing rigs, shoring devices, and scuba gear.

The modern 22,000 square foot Rescue Company 3 station was designed for functionality and around the double height apparatus (fire truck) bay on the ground floor.  The bay houses three vehicles and functions as a giant toolbox with areas to store, maintain, and test tools and equipment. A mezzanine level has a vertical training tower and a fake manhole for confined space exercises.    Columns of cast-in-place concrete rise from the ground level, and the upper level has structural steel coated with intumescent (fire-proof) paint.  

The lower level is largely constructed of bricks and concrete for the “dirty program” operations, while wood and coated steel predominate above for the “clean program” housing captain’s office, kitchen, dormitory, communal room, and fitness center.  Skylights bring natural light into the building and the eastern façade’s apparatus doors have red steel panels alternating with large glass window strips.  Metal and masonry surround the doors. The roof of the station uses folded zinc.

Fire Company 3 received an Excellence in Design Award in 2006 from the Public Art Commission of the City of New York.  Just left of Rescue Company 3 is the Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Service Battalion 18 Station House, Bathgate.  

                                                                                                                       

Janet Butler Munch