President Joe Biden joined members of the Philadelphia Fire Department and other dignitaries to officially reinstate Ladder 1, which has been out of service since 2009.
“Starting today, for the first time in over 15 years, this neighborhood once again has a ladder company on call – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, ready to keep them safe,” said Biden.
The President came to Ladder 1’s firehouse in Francisville on Dec. 11 for a ceremony that included Governor Josh Shapiro, Mayor Jim Kenney, IAFF President Ed Kelley, PFD Commissioner Adam K. Thiel, and U.S. Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell. She spoke about the vital need for more resources to better serve a diverse population.
“While fire can impact anyone, unfortunately we’ve seen time and again that it disproportionally affects our most vulnerable populations — the elderly, our children, the disabled, and low-income families,” said Dr. Moore-Merrell. “Although the overarching goal of the fire department is to prevent fires, the sad reality remains that structure fires still occur, and the fire department must be ready to respond.”
Thiel spoke as well, starting by offering condolences to those impacted by a fatal fire the night before – the fourth such tragedy in the past two weeks. “These incidents underscore the vital importance of these historic reinvestments in the Philadelphia Fire Department,” said Commissioner Thiel before directing the crew of Ladder 1 to hoist a ladder onto their tiller truck. The placement of the ladder and a special call that went out over the radio were symbolic gestures to officially place Ladder 1 back in service. That same evening, further demonstrating the need for this company to come back, Ladder 1 ended up being the first ladder company to respond to a fatal fire in Spring Garden.
The restoration of Ladder 1, which serves neighborhoods including Francisville, Fairmount, Spring Garden and North Philly, is made possible through a $22.4 million FEMA grant. The SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) funding will pay for PFD to hire and train 72 firefighter/EMTs for three years. After that, the personnel costs will be covered by the City of Philadelphia.
Ladder 1 (16th & Parrish), Engine 6 (2601 Belgrade St.) and Ladder 11 (12th & Reed) were among seven companies deactivated on January 5, 2009 during the Recession. All had been in service for more than a century, according to Fireman’s Hall Museum, which keeps the history of the PFD.
The other four companies closed in 2009 – Engine 1 (South Philly/Center City), Engine 8 (Old City), Engine 14 (Frankford) and Engine 39 (Roxborough) – were restored in 2019, also made possible by a SAFER grant.
The PFD responded to about 880 emergency incidents per day in Fiscal Year 2023, for an annual total of nearly 53,000 fire incidents and more than 268,000 EMS incidents.
