John Delach

During the first week of 2026, I heard a report on WINS Radio that a fire had devastated a dwelling at 1826 Green Street (sic) in Ridgewood, Queens. (The correct address is 1826 Green Avenue, named after the revolutionary hero who formed the Green Mountain Boys.)

The fire destroyed a four-family house and disrupted the lives of everyone who lived there. It also zeroed in on my own fear of fire. This, the winter of 2025-2026 has witnessed an exceptional number of house fires across the five-boroughs as if something was failing that resulted in major fires, some of them with fatalities.

The fire at 1826 Green Avenue was too close to home as I grew up at 1821 Himrod Street, two-blocks away in a similar two-story wood and shingle railroad flat. In 2002 I wrote about what it was like to grow up in Ridgewood during the 1950s. Here are my recollections about fire and fire engines from my unpublished memoir: An American Dream.

We considered the firehouse on Himrod Street three blocks south of my house as our neighborhood firehouse. Engine Company 271 and Ladder Company 124 were both located there and were our first responders.

I do believe these two fire companies were the most important municipal services that protected the citizens of Ridgewood at that time. Our home’s wiring and the appliances were poorly installed and dangerous and these companies answered many calls especially in wintertime. Until the mid-50s when City Codes mandated that these buildings be converted to central heating, each apartment had its own stoves for heating and for making hot water. In addition, until the advent of central heating, kerosene stoves were used to heat individual bedrooms and the living room. These portable units could easily be knocked over by a child, a dog or a drunk, adding to the dangerous conditions.

Whenever we were playing in the street and heard the fire sirens, everything stopped. Since Himrod Street was the only northbound through street to Metropolitan Ave, we frequently watched these engines go by. The sound of the sirens was both exciting and scary as we all knew folks who had been burned out of their apartments.

We all took notice to see what would happen next. If the sirens quickly faded, that meant the fire engines were going the wrong way south on Himrod Street heading one block to Wykoff Ave where they turned and disappeared. If they headed north, we waited until they reached Cypress Ave to see if they turned off. Many times, they did because Cypress Ave gave them to access to multiple stores on Myrtle Ave. But, if they kept coming north, we became alert. If they turned off onto one of the next two or three avenues, we took off right behind them.

Most of the calls were minor problems or false alarms but we did see several fires. Our excitement intensified as additional equipment arrived and we usually stayed until the police organized things and forced us away from the action.

An overwhelming fear of fire descended upon me in 1954 when I was ten-years old after I awoke one night to smoke that filled the air, flashing lights and the sight and sounds of firemen climbing ladders and manning hoses right there on my block. The house where my friend, Joey,  lived had caught fire. He and his family were successfully evacuated, but they did lose their honey-colored cocker spaniel.

I was devastated and for several months I suffered through an uncontrollable fear that my house would catch fire if I left it. This fear would strike me at different times without warning. I could be playing ball in a local park. Be inside a movie theatre, on an outing with my mother or at a neighbor’s house. If I could, I would try to get home to save it. The only exception was school because, I could see my house from the classroom windows.

I never told my mother or anyone else about my fear, I just lived with it until one night, a friend of my mother gave me a model car. I took it to bed with me and as I was lying there, as if by magic, this fear lifted and slip-slided away into thin air.

Oh, happy day, but I must admit that since it left, I have retained an acute awareness about fires which is why I am focused on smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and other ways to prevent extinguish or escape fires. I don’t perseverate on fires, but I am aware of their existence  particularly in winter and I always will be aware of them.