The Firehouses of Albany
ON THE BOOK SHELF
By John M. Malecky January, 2026
The Firehouses of Albany
By Anthony Opalka
Available from:
FSP Books
433 Main Street, Suita 2A
Hudson, MA 10749
1-800-522-8528
E-mail: suppot@fire-police-ems.com
Price; $40.00
This is a hard cover book measuring nine inches by eleven inches, with 209 pages. After the Preface, Acknowledgements and Introduction, there are four parts including the appendix. They are the Volunteer Period, the Professional Period and Architects and Architecture of the Albany Fire Department. The author has a colorful background surrounded mostly by urban development, architectural styles and building types. For more than 30 years he has been employed by the New York State Historical Preservation Office. In 2008 he was appointed Albany City Historian. As we probably all know, Albany is the capital of New York State. The book is intense, detailed and I could tell a labor of love. In each part it delves deep into the histories of each of the companies. There are numerous photos, drawings, diagrams, portraits and tables to name a few, that help make this book such a treasure for those who have an interest in histories. According to the latest stats, Albany has as their major apparatus eight engine companies, four ladder companies and a heavy rescue. It even has over 25 pages of the different architects plus pictures of firehouses without known architects. One note is that I remember many years ago watching a documentary on television about different fire departments and in it Albany had a fire chief that was 92-years-old. There was a picture of him at a fire standing with a cane. This publication is of a size that it could qualify as a “coffee table book.”
No information from the author.
