Posts Tagged ‘fire dogs’

My latest story is one of my favorites from my upcoming book, The Bravest Pets of Gotham: Tales of Four-Legged Firefighters of Old New York (September 2024). I laugh every time I think about this crazy little dog of FDNY Engine 56. Enjoy.

During their brief time in Baltimore during the great fire of 1904, the firemen of FDNY Engine Company 26 adopted a stray dog who followed them throughout the day. The men called him Baltimore and decided to make him their mascot. The dog seemed agreeable to the arrangement and traveled back to New York via train to his new firehouse home.

In 1910 and 1931, Happy and Pansy were two cat-saving fire dogs of the FDNY who ran into burning buildings to save their natural enemy.

For four months in 1936, Bess was the most famous mother of all the Brooklyn fire dogs in the Fire Department of New York. But then her own daughter took over the Top Mom title of the FDNY.

One of my favorite fire-cat stories is about Peter and Chops, the beloved firefighter felines of Engine Company No. 14 in New York City’s Flatiron District. When I wrote the story about Peter and Chops for my book, The Cat Men of Gotham, I didn’t realize that they had a canine predecessor.

I recently discovered the wonderful story of Chappie, a pedigree pit bull coach dog gifted by William Waldorf Astor who also called the Engine 14 firehouse his home.