Fire Woman is the story of how a young woman brought up in rural Wales coped in the testosterone-fuelled world of the fire brigade, where even today 96 per cent of all staff are male.
A dramatic, revelatory account of the female inmate firefighters who battle California wildfires. Shawna was overcome by the claustrophobia, the heat, the smoke, the fire, all just down the canyon and up the ravine. She was feeling the adrenaline, but also the terror of doing something for the first time. She knew how to run with a backpack; they had trained her physically. But that’s not training for flames. That’s not live fire. California’s fire season gets hotter, longer, and more extreme every year — fire season is now year-round. Of the thousands of firefighters who battle California’s blazes every year, roughly 30 percent of the on-the-ground wildland crews are inmates earning a dollar an hour. Approximately 200 of those firefighters are women serving on all-female crews. In Breathing Fire, Jaime Lowe expands on her revelatory work for The New York Times Magazine. She has spent years getting to know dozens of women who have participated in the fire camp program and spoken to captains, family and friends, correctional officers, and camp commanders. The result is a rare, illuminating look at how the fire camps actually operate — a story that encompasses California’s underlying catastrophes of climate change, economic disparity, and historical injustice, but also draws on deeply personal histories, relationships, desires, frustrations, and the emotional and physical intensity of firefighting. Lowe’s reporting is a groundbreaking investigation of the prison system, and an intimate portrayal of the women of California’s Correctional Camps who put their lives on the line, while imprisoned, to save a state in peril.
Firefighting is an important and very dangerous job. Readers explore firefighting techniques and firefighting equipment from the past and present in this fascinating book. With plenty of vivid and interesting images, stunning facts, and supportive text, readers can easily compare and contrast the similarities and differences in fire extinction through the years. The accessible table of contents, glossary, and index work to aid students in better understanding the content.
FOREWORD INDIES Book of the Year Awards — 2017 SILVER Winner for Photography A celebration of and tribute to our nation’s courageous firefighters and first responders. Paul Mobley has taken his camera on the road again to photograph America’s bravest citizens. In this collection of intimate and powerful photographic portraits, we get a glimpse of what it means to answer the call and run toward danger. Stunning portraits of these brave men and women—chief fire officers, company and wildland crew leaders, instructors, and line-firefighters—are accompanied by firsthand accounts of those who put it all on the line, as well as stories of those firefighters who have made the greatest sacrifice of all. American Firefighter contains the real-life stories of firefighters, from the most rural volunteers to the most sophisticated and technologically advanced metropolitan departments, and it also profiles the children and grandchildren of firefighters who have been lost in the line of duty as they honor and pursue a family legacy. This book is an excellent gift for this nation’s 1.4 million firefighters and their families, for those just coming to the profession, or for any American who is intrigued to learn more about these everyday heroes.
This book puts a face on women in the fire service, as they share their best stories and the challenges, triumphs, joys and sorrows of being a firefighter, on the line in service to their communities.
Here is the story of Molly Williams, an African American cook for New York City's Fire Company 11 who is considered to be the first known female firefighter in U.S. history. New York City’s Fire Company Number 11 is in trouble. A deadly snowstorm is blowing, and many of the volunteers are sick in bed. When the fire alarm sounds, who will answer the call? Who will save the neighborhood? Molly Williams, the company’s cook, for one! Clapping a weathered leather helmet on her head, strapping spatterdashes over her woolen leggings, and pulling on heavy work gloves —it’s Molly, by golly, to the rescue. Young readers will enjoy plucky Molly Williams’s legendary adventure as they learn how fires were fought in the early 1800s.
Interviews women fire fighters, police officers, and emergency workers about the attack on the World Trade Center, along with survivors of the EMT and the two policewomen killed.
The true story behind the events that inspired the major motion picture Only the Brave. A "unique and bracing" (Booklist) first-person account by the sole survivor of Arizona's disastrous 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire, which took the lives of 19 "hotshots" -- firefighters trained specifically to battle wildfires. Brendan McDonough was on the verge of becoming a hopeless, inveterate heroin addict when he, for the sake of his young daughter, decided to turn his life around. He enlisted in the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of elite firefighters based in Prescott, Arizona. Their leader, Eric Marsh, was in a desperate crunch after four hotshots left the unit, and perhaps seeing a glimmer of promise in the skinny would-be recruit, he took a chance on the unlikely McDonough, and the chance paid off. Despite the crew's skepticism, and thanks in large part to Marsh's firm but loving encouragement, McDonough unlocked a latent drive and dedication, going on to successfully battle a number of blazes and eventually win the confidence of the men he came to call his brothers. Then, on June 30, 2013, while McDonough -- "Donut" as he'd been dubbed by his team--served as lookout, they confronted a freak, 3,000-degree inferno in nearby Yarnell, Arizona. The relentless firestorm ultimately trapped his hotshot brothers, tragically killing all 19 of them within minutes. Nationwide, it was the greatest loss of firefighter lives since the 9/11 attacks. Granite Mountain is a gripping memoir that traces McDonough's story of finding his way out of the dead end of drugs, finding his purpose among the Granite Mountain Hotshots, and the minute-by-minute account of the fateful day he lost the very men who had saved him. A harrowing and redemptive tale of resilience in the face of tragedy, Granite Mountain is also a powerful reminder of the heroism of the people who put themselves in harm's way to protect us every day.
Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton has been a firefighter for eighteen years. She decides which of her colleagues rush into a burning building and how they confront the blaze. She makes the call to evacuate when she feels the options have been exhausted, even if it means leaving the injured behind. She has managed emergencies that have shocked us and moved us, and made decisions that seem impossible. Her book takes us to the heart of firefighting, and reveals the skills and qualities that are essential to surviving - and even thriving - in such a fast-paced and emotionally-charged environment. It immerses us in this extraordinary world; from scenes of devastation and crisis, through triumphs of bravery, to the quieter moments when these assumed heroes question themselves, their choices, and decisions made in the most unforgiving circumstances. Ultimately, we are asked to step into their boots. In the face of urgency and uncertainty, would you respond in an analytical manner or trust your instincts? How would you decide who lives and who dies?