Report from Engine Co. 82 by Dennis Smith
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Book Reviews of Report from Engine Co. 82
Book Review: An American firefighting classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Dennis Smith's Report From Engine Company 82 was a huge best seller when it first appeared in 1972 and it immediately put its author into the rarified air of commercially successful authors. No small feat considering that 1 of every 3 books published fails to make any money at all and fewer than 1% sell more than a million copies, the way this book did.Smith captured forever the day to day grind of inner city firefighters, before air masks were used regularly. He brings the reader into the last days of pre-modern, urban firefighting, the suffocating heat, the blinding smoke, the gut wrenching fear and most of all the camaraderie that comes along with a job that requires disciplined teamwork and exacting attention to detail.
Report opens up with a fire, of course, where Engine 82 and Ladder 31 are forced to breach or break through a wall to get a teenager out of a rear bedroom of a burning apartment. The first two firefighters from Engine 82 enter without air masks and take a terrible beating before they're relieved on the line by two members who are "tanked up." Smith takes the reader through the entire event, step by agonizing step.
Smith lets us see the teeming ghetto that existed around his Intervale Avenue firehouse at the time - today, that same area is covered with single family Nehemia Homes. He takes the reader through the emergencies (gas and water leaks), car accidents, false alarms and spectacular fires, from a firefighter's perspective. In it, he chronicles the death of a fireman, from Engine 82, who fell off the back of the rig, or backstep, while responding to a false alarm. In those days, firefighters still "rode outside" the rig, hanging off the back of the Engine or Pumper by holding onto straps that hung off a rear metal bar across the "backstep" or rear of the rig.
Dennis Smith worked in the early part of a quarter century period (from the late sixties to the late eighties) that saw 30% of all the buildings in NYC burned. Entire tracts of the South Bronx and huge swaths of Brooklyn were reduced to prairie like fields. Thousands of other buildings were made vacant.
I work in the same area today...about a mile and a half west of Engine 82 & Ladder 31. When I first arrived there in 1986 there were tons of vacant buildings, left over remnants from the firestorm of the previous decade. I've known lots of firefighters who went through that period. Most of them have been put out of the job with various forms of cancer, emphysema, throat disorders etc. The effects of swallowing all that smoke are well documented thanks to their sacrifices. Most of NYC's inner city firefighters from that period are dead now.
Of course, air masks are mandatory now (thank God!) and bunker gear has been mandated as of 1994. Despite all that, New York has lost over twenty firefighters in the line of duty over the past five years alone, 764 in its history - pre-9/11.
The book is divided into numerous vignettes which cover the range of incidents Engine 82 responded to, the squalor of the South Bronx, the good natured ribbing of firehouse life, while contrasting the job and that area, to his home and family life in Westchester County, about 30 miles north of New York City.
If there is any nit to be picked with this book, it's that the other firefighters are not very well developed characters. This may have been due to Smith's reluctance to expose the real people he'd worked with. Still, it's a quick and compelling read. Smith has an engaging story telling style and a good-hearted humility and strong sense of humanity that shines through the book. A must for fire buffs everywhere and an interesting behind-the-scenes story about our very recent history for others.
Book Review: The Life of a Firefighter
Summary: 5 Stars
Dennis Smith became a New York City fireman in 1964. Married with three sons, he has a bachelor's degree in English from New York University. This 1972 book tells about his life as a fireman in the South Bronx. There are more homicides per square mile there, more drug traffic, more prostitution. The 41st Precinct House is the busiest police station in the city. The firehouses there are the busiest in the city, and probably the world (Chapter 2). False alarms are constant, drawing firemen from meals and from real alarms. There is the danger from smoke and fire, and from the abandoned buildings. [There is no mention about the economic policies that caused this.] The book has no Index. It reads like a novel, except it is based on his years of experience.
The conversations tell about the men and the work. The arrest of people at an anti-war rally dates this to the late 1960s. "Jim" has a flawed analysis about the protesters (Chapter 3). Somebody threw a brick and hit a fireman! Smith tells what firefighters do in a burning building. Stray embers can burn flesh, smoke attacks the throat and lungs. Smith describes the freedom of living in Washingtonville (Chapter 4). New York City is ruled by aristocrats. The poor suffer the most from fire, crime, and disease. Smith describes the job of firefighting (Chapter 5). The most danger comes from being above the fire (Chapter 6). Smith believes there was no drug problem in the early 20th century (Chapter 7). There was, just read a good history book.
Chapter 8 tells something about Smith's life, and the people and buildings in the South Bronx. Who benefits from burning apartments? Firefighting is the most hazardous occupation in America, more than mining, quarrying, or construction (Chapter 9). The rate of death by fire is twice that of Canada, four times that of the United Kingdom. A discussion about working conditions is interrupted by an alarm (Chapter 10). Smith tells how firemen save lives, even those trapped inside a burning building. The fireman's test is the most difficult test for the city's uniformed services (Chapter 11). Then the moral character test, a physical test, and a medical test. A NYFD badge had advantages then. The classroom training was as difficult as any college course. The field work was as realistic as possible. The last pages tell why he is a firefighter.
Dennis Smith has written a book that should be a classic. Many small communities operate an all-volunteer firefighting service. Would that ever be described in a book?
Book Review: The Bravest
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first read this book I was in grade school. My dad thought if I wanted to be a firefighter I might want to read this book. I sit here right know and look at the inside of the cover, which is a hardcover and there is a price tag for $4.16 from Boscov's (which is a department store).This book brings alive the fire service in New York City in the 1960's. This was one of the most challenging times in the New York City. During this time there were riots,a serious drug abuse problem, and politically charged agendas. But through all this the firefighters of New York City still had to provide fire protection to the citizens.
How many people can say that they know how it feels to be going to a fire to only find yourself a target for rocks, bricks and beer bottles. The men of Engine Company 82 and Ladder 31 found themselves in the situation more then once. These men had to deal with the pain and suffering of people that they went to help, and found that children involved made the job even harder.
Every shift they could look forward to arsons, malicious false alarms and the uncertainty of what might happen next. Did these men do this job for the money? I can say no they did not. They did it for the love of the job. That is why most firefighters do it. Most people and even some firefighters today do not realize the history and the changes that have been in the past 40 years.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to reads a book that they do not want to put down. Once you pick it up, you will not put it down until you are finished.
Book Review: The most accurate and heartfelt account of firefighting
Summary: 5 Stars
I was in seventh grade in 1978 when I first read Report From Engine Co. 82, and no book I've read since has ever had as profound an effect on me. Dennis Smith and his brother firefighters on Intervale Ave. inspired me and, I'm sure, many others to become firefighters. The book is gripping and "in-your-face", taking you into some of the most dangerous and frustrating working conditions imaginable. I just re-read the book, and doing so rekindled the respect and admiration for the heroes of the FDNY that it originally instilled in me 22 years ago. Recently a friend and I visited "The Big House" in the South Bronx, talked with the firemen, took pictures of the neighborhood, and brought Smith's book to life. The pull box at Charlotte St. & East 170th St. made infamous by Smith's book has been replaced by an ERS box; the crumbling, burning tenaments replaced by suburban looking homes. All that remains of the horrors that took place there in the seventies is the memories of daily heroism performed by the men of Engines 82, 85, Ladder 31 and 712 perpetuated by Smith's book.
Now a teacher, I'll be sharing Report From Engine Co. 82 with my class this year. I hope that with the use of this book, I can inspire the same respect, compassion, and concern for human life in my students that Smith inspired in me so long ago.
You don't have to be a firefighter or a "wanna-be" to love Report From Engine Co. 82. Treat yourself to it as soon as you can.
Book Review: A very moving book
Summary: 5 Stars
"Report From Engine Co. 82" had a huge impact on my life. I was about 8 years old and was used to reading science fiction, so this book was 'out of my genre,' so to speak. I had been watching a television show called "Emergency." When Mr. Smith came on the "Today" show, I was moved by his down-to-earth qualities and the rave reviews the book received, so I rode my bicycle down to the public library and checked the book out to see if real life firefighters were anything like Gage and DeSoto (my heroes from "Emergency.") I was surprised, and at times, shocked. The book's first-person narrative style had me hooked from the get-go. It was as though I was reading a diary. I hurried home from school each night to read more. I loved the vignettes of New York City. (I grew up in a small town in the west.) There were parts of the book I was too young to comprehend, such as the cruelty of someone pulling a false alarm. Parts of the book were frightening, then a few minutes later I saw the human side of firefighters told through their practical jokes. How else could they keep their sanity? This book was probably exceptionally 'heavy' material for a young boy to be reading, (my teacher exclaimed "what on earth are you reading!") but I developed an enormous respect for firefighters after reading this book, and my feelings of respect still remain strong. I probably wanted to become a firefighter for awhile after reading this book. Easily one of the most moving reading experiences of my life.