Mike Colón Media

In Volume 7 of Best of The Bravest: Interviews with The FDNY’s Elite — New Haven Edition — Fire Chief Dan Coughlin recounts the October 2023 Ferry Street fire, the city’s largest blaze in more than three decades.

What began as a standard morning response quickly escalated into a four-alarm inferno that consumed an old industrial building filled with machinery, oil, and debris. Coughlin assumed command on the third alarm, coordinating resources and striking a fourth as mutual aid units from West Haven, East Haven, and North Haven poured in.

The fire raged for two days, melting apparatus lights and exhausting crews — yet through sharp leadership and coordination, firefighters managed to save an adjacent solar company, preserving part of the block from total loss.

Coughlin’s recollection captures the scale, chaos, and teamwork that define command on the fireground when the stakes are at their highest.

VIEW INTERVIEW HERE: