Mike McGroarty, CEO  Rescue Training Specialist  Fire Chief, La Habra Fire, Retired,  Deputy Chief, Special Ops, CA-OES, Retired Mike has been in the fire service since 1977, specializing since 1981 in technical heavy rescue. He was the founding president of Urban Search Rescue, Inc. and teaches heavy rescue systems for the CA State Fire Marshal's Office. He is a member of many FEMA task forces and other specialty groups and speaks and writes extensively on disaster situations that involve technical rescue. Technical Rescue has come a long way since its origins, and today it's a mainstay in the fire and rescue services.

OUR FIREMEN : THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE
BROOKLYN   FIRE   DEPARTMENT

CHAPTER XV

COMPANIES OF THE EIGHTH DISTRICT.

DISTRICT ENGINEER DENNIS McGROARTY. 

The Eighth District is commanded by District Engineer DENNIS McGROARTY.   He was born in Ireland in 1844, and one year later his parents came to this country and settled in the Ninth Ward of Brooklyn.   He received his education at Public School No. 9.  When the Civil War broke out he was but seventeen years of age, but he was bubbling over with patriotism and resolved to give his life to his adopted country if necessary. He found that his youth was a difficult obstacle to surmount in his ambition to become a soldier, but he overcame it and it was the happiest day of his then brief existence when he was allowed to wear the blue uniform provided by Uncle Sam, and shoulder a musket as a private in the Fifty-first Regiment New York Volunteers. In 1862, at his own request, he was transferred to Battery K., First United States Artillery, in which company he was promoted to be a corporal, and held this rank until January, 1864, when he was honorably discharged from the service. He immediately enlisted in Battery G., Third United States Artillery, and soon after was promoted to the rank of sergeant.   At the battle of Beverly Ford, Va., he was so seriously wounded in the thigh as to incapacitate him for service, and necessitate his second honorable discharge from the army on July 29, 1865.

On his return to his home in Brooklyn, Mr. McGROARTY found employment as a hatmaker, with the firm of Pierce, Hall & Company.   As a volunteer fireman he was an active member of Goodwill Engine Company No. 4, then located on Underhill Avenue, near Bergen Street.

When the new Department came into existence, Mr. McGROARTY was made a driver and assigned to Hook and Ladder Company No. 2, the boundaries of their district being from Fort Green to East New York. and from the Wallabout to Flatbush. When Engine Company No. 14 was organized in 1872, Mr. McGROARTY was promoted to the rank of Foreman and put in command. At the St. John's Orphan Asylum fire, he saved the lives of three little boys, who but for his prompt action would have perished in the flames.   On July 1, 1885, he was promoted to the rank of District Engineer, by Commissioner POILLON, and put in charge of the Eighth District. His district, one of the most important in the city, was, soon after his promotion, enlarged so as to include the Twenty-sixth Ward, increasing his responsibilities, and although the redistricting of 1892 has somewhat reduced the earlier extent of it, he still has a vast territory to be responsible for. In his career as a District Engineer he has performed many creditable and noteworthy acts, one of which deserves especial mention, for it was through his promptness and cool-headedness and with the assistance of members of Engine Company No. 14, that the life of Eliza MILLARD, an elderly woman, was saved on the night of Nov. 23, 1888, at No. 45 Albany Avenue. 

Mr. McGROARTY is not only a popular man in the Department, but also in the district in which he lives and over which he has supervision in fire matters. During his career as soldier and fireman he has made a record of which any man might be proud.