Introduction Summary and Analysis

Dennis Smith got his break in writing after a letter he had published in the New York Times was spotted by the editor of TRUE magazine who asked him to write an article about the modern-day firefighter. Smith considered his time with the Fire Department, from 1966 to 1973, similar to a wartime experience. Even though working full days, he religiously took daily notes ultimately turning them into his book.

A third of the calls to the department were for crimes and injured people; a third were false alarms; and the remaining one-third for fires. The work in the South Bronx was dangerous and difficult. Just as Katherine Anne Porter once suggested, Smith feels the story found the author. The account of the brave and extraordinary men of the South Bronx needed to be told. Smith felt it was up to him to...