Engine 2 was organized March 15, 1871 as one of the original twenty-two engine companies of the Philadelphia Fire Department. Their station was located on the southeast corner of 13th and Oxford Streets. Their firehouse was formerly the station for the Humane Fire Company No. 13. The city rented the building from the former volunteer company. Rent for 1871 was $833.33.
The original company roster for Engine 2 was as follows:
Foreman John Jacoby
Engineer Frank V. Fulmer
Driver John Buck
Fireman Henry Hicks
Hoseman Harrison McManus
Hoseman B.F. Hooley
Hoseman William Fuller Jr.
Hoseman F.H. Schell
Hoseman George M. Haedrick
Hoseman Lorenzo Bitters
Hoseman Henry Schwartz
Hoseman M.P. Glanding
Mrs. Fetter was the company’s matron or janitress.
(Note: the title Foreman was changed to Captain on July 1, 1912.)
The total payroll for Engine 2 during 1871 was $4497.30. Mrs. Fetter was paid $95.00.
Engine 2’s first apparatus was an 1863 G&J Chapman 3rd size steamer (700 gpm) and a hand-drawn hose carriage with 800 feet of gum rubber hose with Jones Snap couplings. The steamer was purchased from the Humane Fire Company for $2,500.00. It was pulled by horses. The hand-drawn hose carriage was replaced late in 1871 with a Gardner and Fleming hose cart. The new hose cart was pulled by one horse.
In 1914 a new Mack hose wagon was assigned to Engine 2 bringing motorization to the company. The horse-drawn steamer was replaced in 1916 when an 1893 Silsby 2nd size (900 gpm) steamer pulled by a Christie tractor was assigned to Engine 2.
Over the years, Engine 2 was housed in several stations. Listed below is a chronology of those locations:
March 15, 1871 – SEC 13th & Oxford Streets
1877 – Montgomery Avenue west of 10th Street
1883 – 1816 N. 10th Street
1893 – 1034 W. Berks Street
June 30, 1937 – 2031 N. 7th Street with Engine 23 for station renovation
1940 – 1034 W. Berks Street
1950 – 2031 N. 7th Street – Engine 23’s former station
February 18, 1961 – 2003 N. 2nd Street with Ladder 3 for station renovation
July 31, 1961 – 2031 N. 7th Street
April 5, 1978 – 2426-32 N. 2nd Street with Ladder 3 and Battalion 6
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Most older firefighters, retirees, and fire buffs know that Engine 2 was first-in to the January 1, 1963, 12-alarm, Fretz Building fire at 10th & Diamond Sts.. This was one of the largest fires in Phila. history destroying the 8 story block long building in addition to destroying or damaging 55 surrounding dwellings and commercial buildings. However, many are unaware that a little over three and a half years earlier, Engine 2 was first-in to a 4-alarm fire at the very same Fretz Building. On May, 9, 1959, at 8:49pm, Engine 2, Ladder 3, and Battalion 6 were dispatched to a sprinkler alarm at 1011 W. Diamond St., the Fretz Building. Upon arrival, Battlion 6 saw a fire in a 1st floor wooden stairway which had spread up with fire showing on the 8th floor. He simultaneously requested a box and 2nd alarm. later a 3rd & 4th alarms were struck, and companies were able to confine the fire to the two upper floors. Chief of the Dept. Hink credited the operation of the sprinkler system with helping to control the extension of the fire as opposed to the 1963 fire in which the sprinkler system was reported to be frozen.
On April 19, 1981 at 12:25 am. the FCC transmitted Box 266 at Waterloo & Dauphin Sts.. Arriving first-in, Engine 2 found the fire to be at the El Morro Express Co.’s warehouse containing food products at 134 W. York St. a block away. Heavy smoke was coming from the 1=2 story non-combustible warehouse fronting on York St.. This was a relatively new bldg. for the area with metal steel beams supporting a metal deck roof with cinder block walls. It took over 10 minutes to open up the tightly closed warehouse at which time they saw the heavy extent of the fire and struck the 2nd alarm. Later, a third alarm was struck. At the height of the fire, the steel beams buckled from the intense interior heat, pushing out part of the cinder block wall onto the York St. sidewalk and the metal roof caved in. Luckily, no firemen were injured, and the gaping holes in the bldg. enabled hose streams to penetrate the fire. They were also able to prevent the fire from extending to an attached older, 4 story brick bldg. to the south. This was an example of how a non-combustible bldg. can be destroyed by heavily involved combustible material inside.