Fire Department City of New York honors the department's 137 years of dedicated service to the City of New York by chronicling its history of the department with a updated listing of all the firefighters that have been killed in the line of duty. This book features 272 pages of which 67 are full-color pages. It has been updated to include the photos of all 343 individuals that so bravely lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
Written by two experts on Fire Department history, this book documents the evolution of city firefighting from the earliest bucket brigades through the arrival of the Superpumper fire trucks and the latest advances in protective gear. The book culminates with the World Trade Center disaster of September 11, 2001. 70 illustrations, 2 maps.
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, forever altered the American landscape, both figuratively and literally. Immediately after the jets struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center, Dennis Smith, a former firefighter, reported to Manhattan’s Ladder Co. 16 to volunteer in the rescue efforts. In the weeks that followed, Smith was present on the front lines, attending to the wounded, sifting through the wreckage, and mourning with New York’s devastated fire and police departments. This is Smith’s vivid account of the rescue efforts by the fire and police departments and emergency medical teams as they rushed to face a disaster that would claim thousands of lives. Smith takes readers inside the minds and lives of the rescuers at Ground Zero as he shares stories about these heroic individuals and the effect their loss had on their families and their companies. “It is,” says Smith, “the real and living history of the worst day in America since Pearl Harbor.” Written with drama and urgency, Report from Ground Zero honors the men and women who—in America’s darkest hours—redefined our understanding of courage.
What does it take to lead people into a burning building? How do the leaders of the New York City Fire Department develop so much loyalty, trust, and grace under pressure that their subordinates will risk their very lives for them? As a high-ranking officer of the FDNY, John Salka is an expert at both practicing and teaching high-stakes leadership. In First In, Last Out, he explains the department’s unique strategies and how they can be adopted by leaders in any field—as he has taught them to organizations around the country. In a tough-talking, no-nonsense style, Salka uses real-world stories to convey leadership imperatives such as: first in, last out—your people need to see you taking the biggest risk, as the first one to enter the danger zone and the last to leave manage change—the fire you fought yesterday is not the one you’ll be fighting tomorrow communicate aggressively—a working radio is worth more than 20,000 gallons of water create an execution culture—focus your people on the flames, not the smoke commit to reality—never allow the way you would like things to be to color how things are develop your people—let them feel a little heat today or they’ll get burned tomorrow Illustrated by harrowing real-life situations, the principles in First In, Last Out will help managers become more confident, coherent, and commanding. On the web: http://www.firstinleadership.com
A pictorial history-from the first horse-drawn pumpers to the newest ladder trucks-presents more than 400 NYC firefighting trucks. A special photo section pays tribute to the equipment used and lost in the September 11 disaster.
