I have lived in Jersey City since last March, and every day I pass the fire station at the foot of my street. After nine months, I decided it was time to drop in and say I wanted to photograph them. At Engine 9, there are four groups of firefighters that rotate every 24 hours: A group, B group, C group, and D group. Each group consists of three firefighters and a captain. The battalion chief also resides in their station. He is in charge of the fourth battalion, which consists of four fire stations including Engine 9.
Their fire truck is a pumper, which means it carries 500 gallons of water and has the technical capability to route water to other trucks. For every call to a fire, a combination of ladder and pumper trucks respond. The number of them depend on the city and how large the fire is.
Over the last two weeks I photographed each group in a different part of the station. For two of the groups, they had to run out the door in the middle of the shoot to answer a call, but came back within 30 minutes to finish the photo. I had the opportunity to ride with B group to a hit a run during the day, and to a fire alarm with D group at night.
And now, the slide show!
A Group in front of the fire truck
B Group in the kitchen
C Group on the roof of the fire station minus their chief (he was out)
D Group by the equipment lockers
The Engine 9 fire truck
The back of the fire station with the equipment lockers and the battalion chief’s SUV. The battalion chief never rides on the fire truck, always in his SUV. As the head of the 4th battalion, he needs the flexibility to stop by any of the four fire stations in his jurisdiction.
Laundry machines in the back of the fire station
The kitchen
Firefighters of D group at night
Firefighters of D group watching tv and making coffee
Firefighters of D group watching tv
The captain of C group in his office upstairs
B group responding to a hit and run
B group responding to a hit and run
Hit and run down the street. The woman suffered minor injuries
A firefighter from D group suits up on the way to a fire alarm
D group responding to a fire alarm
A firefighter from another company with his fire truck in the background
Engine 9 backing up into the station after a call
