According to an article in the New York Times on April 5, 1925, Albert Gomez Dreyfous began photographing the FDNY in his young adulthood of the mid-1890's. Even his early works captured more than what the curious onlookers were admiring. He captured the energy of the responding apparatus and the excitement of the fire-fight. His lens saw the men behind the legends.

He was born in Manhattan where he lived his entire life. On his father's side, Albert's great-great-grandfather was Haym Salomon. Solomon's wife's brother, Isaac Franks, was a close friend of George Washington. Haym lent money to, and raised money for, the Continental Congress to finance the Revolutionary War. He was arrested by the British for his involvement with the Sons of Liberty and was incarcerated in the Old Sugar House in New York City. The building lost its roof in the Fire of 1776 and as a result, Haym contracted a severe and debilitating respiratory ailment from which he eventually died. Monuments are erected to him in Mikvah Israel Cemetery in Philadelphia and on Wacker Drive in Chicago (along with George Washington and Robert Morris.) The US Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp with his image in 1975 and a World War II Liberty Ship bore his name.

Albert was appointed Official Photographer of the FDNY as an Honorary Lieutenant on April 4, 1922. He was promoted twice, first to Captain in 1924 and to Battalion Chief in 1925. Chief Dreyfous was an early member of the Fire Bell Club, being accepted as a Special Member on November 12, 1940.

Albert died of natural causes in his beloved City of New York at the age of 73.

All of Dreyfous' photographic negatives, including glass and celluloid, are in the archives of the Connecticut Firemen's Historical Society who published a selection of them in book form in 2009.