"CRY FIRE"
Short Stories of a New York City Firefighter
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
It was dark out, and I looked ahead up at the sky, the sky was lit up with a red glow, it seemed far away. As we got closer to area of response, the sky was lighting up like the Aurora Borealis with fire embers rising to the sky. O’Malley who was peering over at his side yelled out. It looks like London during the blitz. As we pull into the area of response, John Rossi yells out " Voila ". There were at least three vacant multiple dwellings involved with fire. We couldn’t get near the fire because of all the hose stretched by numerous Engine Co’s. The Super Pumper was in place with its diesel engines purring and supplying a large manifold lying out in the street, so that numerous Companies can hook up to the manifold to fight their individual fires. We could feel the heat of the fires radiating off us like a sauna, civilians were all over the place and New York’s finest ( NYPD)had their hands full. Lt. Mundi yelled over to us to grab folded lengths and carry them over to the manifold and hook up. We were ordered by the Chief to stretch a line to a vacant building across the intersection, and wash down the interior stairs, because somebody poured gasoline down the stairs. We stretched the line to the door way of the building and pulled it into the hallway, The Chief was right, the odor of gasoline stunk up the place. All that was needed was a spark and the place would have lit up. Lt. Mundi called Charlie on the phone to start water. I was on the nozzle, and opened it slightly, to release the air pressure. When the line was charged, I started to wash down the stairs in front of us. Rossi and O’Malley backed me up as I started to move up the stairs. Ron Hinks and Gus Landi moved the line in from the street as we moved in. We were half way up the stairs washing it down when Lt. Mundi gets a call from Charlie," Lou, the sons of bitches are trying to cut our line--
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
In Cry Fire
At that time Firefighting companies responded to a staggering increase in alarms. These alarms included structural fires, false alarms, minor fires and emergencies. During these times Firefighters were subject to buildings being booby trapped, and firefighters being ambushed, where their means of exiting streets were cutoff with debris and missiles thrown off roofs at them, which included Molotov Cocktales. They also had bricks and stones thrown at them as they responded to fires. The old time respect for firefighters in certain areas disappeared, It was if we were working in a different country, not the same country that most of us new in days gone by. Now we were the enemy, not the men that saved lives and property.
To some it didn’t matter that we were the men who would risk our lives to save possibly people of their own families. Most people in these areas were decent and law abiding people, but then there were the others.
This book has been long in coming. But the story had to be told. If anything, for those Brothers who lost their lives trying to help others. This book is dedicated to them and their families. God Bless them all.
About the Author
Andrew Ashurst became a New York City Firefighter in the 1967. After Probationary School he was sent to Engine Company 216 located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. During the Sixties and Seventies, which were considered the War Years neighborhoods like Williamsburg, South Bronx, Bedford Stuyvesant and the Brownsville areas of New York had a dramatic increase in structural fires, mostly because of arson. There was an increase in riots and crime throughout the City because of racial unrest and turmoil. Engine 216 became one of the busiest fire companies in the City. In 1970 they responded to 4960 alarms and 2689 working fires for that year. This book is dedicated to firefighters everywhere, be it professional or volunteer, and to those men with Engine 216, 108 Trucks, 35th Battalion and the 11th Division that I had the honor to work with and to all my brothers of the New City Fire Department who lost their lives in the performance of their duties especially to the Brothers who lost their lives at the World Trades Center September 11, 2001. This book is also dedicated to all the families of firefighters and emergency response teams everywhere, and especially to those who lost their loved ones in the performance of their duties. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be contributed to The New York City Firefighters Burn Unit These stories are true accounts. Some of the names of the fire fighters and response areas have been changed.