In "My Younger Buff Years" many of us talked about the Historically Busy WAR YEARS of the FDNY. Surely, no city fought more fires than the FDNY during the busy years of the late 60s, the 70s, and even into the 80s. But during that same time frame, there were also many Other Cities having their own set of War Years. The firefighters in many cities went to work knowing that they would be fighting a fire, or several fires before their shift was over. It was just such a busy time. In addition to buffing New York City, I spent many hours chasing the rigs in Providence, R.I. and Bridgeport, Ct. I also made occassional trips to many other cities. All were catching a HUGE Amount of working fires in those days. Whether it was Newark or Jersey City, Philly or Boston, Yonkers or Hartford, it was not "When" but "Where".
I had many friends that fought those War Years Fires throughout most of their entire careers. That's all they knew. Go to the firehouse and fight fires. Most really didn't do EMS work at the time. My own brother went on the Bridgeport Fire Dept in 1977 and fought fires almost ever shift for his entire career. They really were "The Greatest Generation of Firefighters".
I hope to tell a few stories of just what went on in some of those busy cities. And we hope you tell your stories too. Lets give credit to the many Firefighters that fought these fires in these busy neighborhoods and put their own lives in jeopardy on a Daily basis. Most are now off the job. They were Hard Working Heros that deserve to have their many stories told.
I had many friends that fought those War Years Fires throughout most of their entire careers. That's all they knew. Go to the firehouse and fight fires. Most really didn't do EMS work at the time. My own brother went on the Bridgeport Fire Dept in 1977 and fought fires almost ever shift for his entire career. They really were "The Greatest Generation of Firefighters".
I hope to tell a few stories of just what went on in some of those busy cities. And we hope you tell your stories too. Lets give credit to the many Firefighters that fought these fires in these busy neighborhoods and put their own lives in jeopardy on a Daily basis. Most are now off the job. They were Hard Working Heros that deserve to have their many stories told.