The bill enabled the appointment of several fire commissioners, who in turn hired various staff and procured the BFD's apparatus. The Brooklyn Fire Department, a paid firefighting force, was organized on September 15, 1869, replacing the 3,000-person volunteer force. According to an official BFD history, the volunteer department had been made obsolete due to technological advances that rendered the volunteers unable to respond efficiently to fires. Upon its organization, the Brooklyn Fire Department consisted of 13 engine companies and 6 ladder companies, though several new engine and ladder companies were added over the following years. By 1870, the cities of Brooklyn and Williamsburg had merged their volunteer fire departments with the BFD. Several other towns were annexed into Brooklyn in the 1880s and 1890s, namely Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend, and New Utrecht. As they were annexed, these municipalities merged their volunteer fire departments with the BFD. Under Fire Commissioner Frederick W. Wurster, the Brooklyn Fire Department built several new firehouses in the newly annexed areas in 1894. After the 1898 consolidation of Brooklyn with the other four boroughs and creation of the modern City of New York, the companies and equipment of the Brooklyn and Long Island City Fire Departments were merged with the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) on January 28, 1898. The companies of the former Queens and Brooklyn fire departments were renumbered in 1913. The department operated two fireboats, the "Seth Low" and "David A. Boody". The "Seth Low", named for Brooklyn mayor Seth Low, was a wooden-hull boat used by the BFD and then the FDNY from 1885 to 1917. The "David A. Boody" was built in 1892 and was used by the BFD and FDNY until her scrapping in 1916. Around 1890, the Brooklyn Fire Department began planning for the construction of a new fire headquarters with a tall lookout tower. The BFD commissioned Frank Freeman to design the Brooklyn Fire Headquarters on Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The new building was nearly completed in 1892, although the fire department did not occupy the building until March 1894. Though originally intended as the department's headquarters, it served in this role for only four years until the Brooklyn Fire Department was incorporated into the FDNY. The building was converted to residential use in 2015. Before the rise of the fire alarm system, the Brooklyn Fire Department had four bell towers from which firefighters could spot fires from afar. These were located at Brooklyn City Hall; the intersection of Hicks and Sackett Streets in Cobble Hill, south Brooklyn; the intersection of North First Street and Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, north Brooklyn; and the intersection of Ten Eycke and Manhattan Avenue (formerly Ewen Street) in East Williamsburg, east Brooklyn.