Michael Ratcliffe

Trenton Firefighting Michael Ratcliffe

Few American cities can claim a firefighting history as rich as that of New Jersey's capital. Trenton's first volunteer fire company was organized in 1747 and was followed by more than a dozen other volunteer engine, hose, and hook and ladder companies that protected Trenton until 1892. They were replaced by paid firefighters staffing six engines and two ladders. As the city grew into a major industrial center, the fire department grew with it. Trenton Firefighting tells and honors the story of Trenton's firefighters--both volunteer and paid--and the blazes they have battled, including the 1885 fire that gutted the New Jersey State House, the 1915 conflagration that destroyed the insulated wire mill of John A. Roebling's Sons Company (builder of the Brooklyn Bridge), and the 1975 inferno that razed the historic Trenton Civic Center.