Harvey's long life in the Port of New York includes service at hundreds of serious fires, explosions, and marine disasters.

One of the first was the five alarm fire that destroyed Cunard's Pier 54 at West 14th Street in May 1932.  In 1942 Harvey worked at the fire that destroyed the French Line's Normandie, the grandest ocean liner ever built.

In 1943 Harvey along with Fire Fighter went into harm's way to control a raging fire aboard the ammunition ship El Estero. The two fireboats poured tons of water into the ship with the express purpose of sinking her before an ammunition explosion could take place. Had El Estero exploded it is estimated that it would have been the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion in history and would have resulted in catastrophic damage to lower Manhattan, New Jersey, and Brooklyn with a large loss of life. Although the crews of Harvey and Fire Fighter received the highest awards for bravery, none of this story was made public due to wartime censorship and very little is known of it.

Harvey has also operated at dozens of major pier fires, in New York as well as New Jersey where the FDNY has jurisdiction