Top Firefighting Books – Part II (56 Books)

You speak and I listen!!! I recently compiled a list of 54 MUST READ Firefighting books (view that list here). There were many left out…as you all told me immediately. That’s okay though, because now we have 56 more books which weren’t included in the first list.  I have included links to Amazon, so you can get more information and/or purchase them at decent prices.

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• Five Alarm Leadership: From Firehouse to Fireground – Rick Lasky & John Salka
  • Rick Lasky and John Salka are two of the most dynamic and inspirational leaders in the fire service. Their book, Five Alarm Leadership, is a compilation of leadership lessons learned, situations handled, decisions made, and problems solved during their combined 60-plus years of fire service experience. Also included is a special introduction by Chief (ret.) Bobby Halton, Editor-in-Chief of Fire Engineering magazine, outlining the nature of transformational leadership and its power to inspire excellence in the fire service.
• Firehouse Food: Cooking with San Francisco’s Firefighters – George Dolese
  • Firefighters are famous for their food and it s no wonder since they cook their own meals seven days a week. All that practice, not to mention the peer pressure, makes for some of the best recipes in town, especially when that town is a culinary mecca like San Francisco. Firehouse Food introduces firehouse life, its brave denizens, and more than 100 of their best recipes. We meet greenhorns and veterans, retirees and local characters, all the while enjoying terrific meals designed to cook up easy and satisfy the whole crew. The recipes reflect the diversity of the San Francisco Fire Department personnel themselves-Latin-American, Asian, African, Italian, Irish, Eastern European-with a melting pot of delectable flavors. From barbecue by the experts to a Pineapple Upside Down Cake just like mom s, these dishes are forgiving enough for anyone to try, and generous enough for everyone to enjoy. With color photographs of meals, downtime, cookery in action, and of course the food itself, Firehouse Food illustrates the daily routine that turns a firehouse into a family.
• Steely Blue – Dennis Smith
• The Final fire – Dennis Smith
  • Mystery Novel
• It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy (revised) – D. Michael Abrashoff
  • The story of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff and his command of USS Benfold has become legendary inside and outside the Navy. Now Abrashoff offers this fascinating tale of top-down change for anyone trying to navigate today’s uncertain business seas. When Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of USS Benfold, a ship armed with every cutting-edge system available, it was like a business that had all the latest technology but only some of the productivity. Knowing that responsibility for improving performance rested with him, he realized he had to improve his own leadership skills before he could improve his ship. Within months he created a crew of confident and inspired problem-solvers eager to take the initiative and take responsibility for their actions. The slogan on board became “It’s your ship,” and Benfold was soon recognized far and wide as a model of naval efficiency.
• Truck Company Operations, 2nd Edition – John Mittendorf
  • Author John Mittendorf has completely rewritten his best-selling book, Truck Company Operations, a must-have for all firefighters who are assigned to the truck and who have responsibilities for the truck on the fireground. The new second edition covers the many aspects, tasks, and functions of a truck company, and contains new and expanded information related to search, reading a building, reading smoke, the Ten Commandments of truck company operations, operating truck apparatus, and more–all from a truck company perspective.
• Tom Brennan’s Random Thoughts – Tom Brennan
  • For the first time, the entire 18-year collection of Tom’s “Random Thoughts” columns from Fire Engineering magazine are assembled and presented in book format.
• Last Man Down: A Firefighter’s Story of Survival and Escape from the World Trade Center – Richard Picciotto & Daniel Paisner
  • On September 11, 2001, FDNY Battalion Chief Richard “Pitch” Picciotto answered the call heard around the world. In minutes he was at Ground Zero of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center began to burn—and then to buckle. A veteran of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Picciotto was eerily familiar with the inside of the North Tower. And it was there that he concentrated his rescue efforts. It was in its smoky stairwells where he heard and felt the South Tower collapse. Where he made the call for firemen and rescue workers to evacuate, while he stayed behind with a skeleton team of men to help evacuate a group of disabled and infirm civilians. And it was in the rubble of the North Tower where Picciotto found himself buried—for more than four hours after the building’s collapse.
• Firehouse – Jill Freedman & Dennis Smith
  • Firefighters, the unheralded heroes of our time. They risk their lives almost daily to save others from relentless flames. How do they feel about one another, and when are they afraid? This is a well deserved tribute to every firefighter in America.
• 3D Fire Fighting : Training, Techniques, and Tactics First Edition
  • Four tactical specialists from the USA, Australia, and the UK contribute their expertise to this book which demonstrates how a safe and more effective approach to tackling structure fires can result in reducing the life losses dramatically, as has been shown in the countries where 3D firefighting has evolved. Book and companion CD-ROM explore new approaches to tactical venting options and fire and confinement strategies. Offers primary teaching aids relative to various forms of rapid-fire progress, CFBT (Compartment Fire Behavior Training), and tactical fire attack (smoothbore vs. water fog vs. CAFS). First-hand views from fire chiefs in New York CIty and London debate the venting vs. confinement tactics head on. Learn how to implement CFBT procedures by using the methods based on the Swedish model with safe operating procedures developed in the UK.
• In Honor of The Charleston 9: A Study of Change Following Tragedy – Dr. David Griffin
  • Monday, June 18, 2007. Nine firefighters lost. Many grieving families. An organization spiraling into crisis. Significant reasons for change. The Sofa Super Store Fire, one of the nation’s deadliest incidents for firefighters since 9/11, marked the beginning of change. Change for people and the global landscape of emergency services. But how, specifically, did an emergency services organization in South Carolina learn at the individual, team, and organizational levels following this tragedy, and consequently, institute the needed changes for organizational development? After more than three years of in-depth research, Dr. David Griffin, the engineer on the first due engine of the Sofa Super Store Fire, studies how organizational processes and employee behaviors changed following this multiple line of duty death incident. The study centered on firefighters who officially responded on June 18, 2007 to the deadly Sofa Super Store Fire in Charleston, SC. This is a scientific research study, not a story. Change did come. Find out how the concept of organizational learning led to the changes, and how you can institute this powerful concept in your organization. This study will save lives. A portion of all proceeds will benefit The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Visit drdavidgriffin.com for more information.
• Fire Fighting Tactics– Lloyd Layman
• Fire Department Special Operations – John Norman
  • Ray Downey wrote the first edition of The Rescue Company in the early 1990s. Building on Downey’s legacy, John Norman has written Fire Department Special Operations to take into consideration the earth-shattering events, funding increases, research advances, expanded capabilities, and changes in regulations and standards that have widened the knowledge gap since the publication of Chief Downey’s book. Fire Department Special Operations is an excellent guide for agencies and individuals in establishing, staffing, operating, and maintaining heavy rescue units in the many forms they may take. It is also an ideal training resource for the officers and individuals assigned the duties that a rescue firefighter must accomplish.
• Bulletproof Spirit: The First Responder’s Essential Resource for Protecting and Healing Mind and Heart – Dan Willis
  • Suicide, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, and many more emotional and stress-related problems plague the first-responder community. Hundreds of thousands of these brave public servants have unwittingly become victims of the professions they once loved. However, the suffering that results from a professional life of sacrifice and service can be prevented and mitigated. As a law-enforcement veteran, police captain Dan Willis has witnessed the damage of emotional trauma and has made it his personal mission to safeguard and enhance the wellness and wholeness of police officers, firefighters, EMTs, emergency-room personnel, and soldiers. Bulletproof Spirit offers field-tested expertise designed to be used by all first responders — and their families — to heal themselves and continue serving with compassion and strength.
• Fire Protection Handbook (2 Volume Set) – Multiple authors
  • Accept no substitutes! Stay ahead with the most trusted, comprehensive, and up-to-date fire and life safety resource — NFPA®’s fully revised 20th edition Fire Protection Handbook®. In a field as wide ranging and dynamic as fire protection, staying current with the latest research, technology, and safety practices is as challenging as it is essential. The fully updated, new 20th editionFPH® provides state-of-the-art, in-depth coverage of every aspect of fire protection so you can eliminate knowledge gaps, avoid errors, and maintain your competitive edge.
• Fire Stream Management Handbook – David Fornell
  • To mount a successful fire suppression operation, you must follow basic fire stream management principles. This book provides 13 illustrated chapters on basic fire stream management and the theories behind nozzle operation, hoses, foam, maintenance, and tactical procedures.
• Capitol City Fireman– Jake Rixner
  • Every little kid dreams of being a fireman, most grow out of it; those who don’t just want to work in a big city at a busy firehouse. These are the stories of one man who did just that. The adventures are both entertaining and informative and one can almost smell the smoke and hear the big diesel engines roar as we race from one emergency to the next. So climb aboard, and hang on tight for the ride of your life.
• Wooden Sticks & Iron Men – William Noonan
• Crucible of Fire: Nineteenth-Century Urban Fires and the Making of the Modern Fire Service – Bruce Hensler
  • Crucible of Fire describes how the practical knowledge gained from fighting nineteenth-century fires gave form and function to modern fire protection efforts. Changes in materials and building design resulted directly from tragedies such as fires in supposedly fireproof hotels. Thousands of buildings burned, millions of dollars were lost, the fire insurance industry faltered, and the nature of volunteerism changed radically before municipal authorities took the necessary actions. The great fires formed a crucible of learning for firefighters, engineers, architects, underwriters, and citizens.
• The Rescue Company – Ray Downey
  • Part I: Getting started – the rescue company and its people What resue is about Recruiting and staffing Rescue apparatus Tools and equipment State-of-the-art equipment Training Part II: Rescue incidents Impalement Operating on air Buried victims Elevators Airbags Utilizing the rescue company Water rescue teams Confined space Vehicle accidents Part III: Operations and planning Rescue operational plan Rope and rigging Treating victims Concrete Planning for major operations.
• Bagpipe Brothers: The FDNY Band’s True Story of Tragedy, Mourning, and Recovery – Kerry Sheridan
  • After the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, New York City’s Emerald Society Bagpipe Band of firefighter-musicians took out their instruments and prepared to bury their dead–343 brothers in duty and in blood. Many firefighters alternated between playing their instruments at funerals and digging for the missing in the rubble of Ground Zero. The Irish American tradition of funeral bagpiping became the sound of mourning for an entire nation. Bagpipe Brothers tells the unforgettable story of four firefighters in the band, who struggled to bring peace to their families and themselves while searching for the dead, coping with the endless round of funerals, and rethinking the meaning of faith. Their experiences illustrate the grief and recovery of the nation in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
• Tunnel Visions – Kurt Kamm
  • Tunnel Visions is a work of faction a blend of fact and fiction. It weaves together the historical details of an actual water tunnel disaster in Los Angeles, the current struggle for control over California’s diminishing water supply, and a fictional plot to attack the Los Angeles water system. Digging 5 miles inside a Los Angeles MWD water tunnel in 1971, Willie Carter was one of the 17 men killed by a methane explosion in what became known as the Sylmar Tunnel disaster. Nick Carter, Willie Carter’s son, is a firefighter trained in urban search and rescue (USAR) operations. His fiancée, Cindi, is an ATF Special Agent. On a Sunday in 2014, they are swept up in a massive Homeland Security response to a terror alert in Los Angeles. At the end of Tunnel Visions, when Nick makes a desperate entry into the gas-filled Sylmar Tunnel in an attempt to save Cindi and prevent a disaster, his past and present are brought together in a shocking way.
• One Foot in the Black – Kurt Kamm
  • One Foot in the Black tells the coming-of-age story of a young wildland firefighter. At eighteen, Greg Kowalski, leaves an abusive home in Michigan for California to become a helitack (helicopter attack) wildland firefighter. He finds a new family in fire crew but suffers the loss of his captain and mentor while fighting a major burn on a mountainside. In time, Greg comes to terms with the death of his captain but has greater difficulty overcoming his abusive father s influence on his life.
• Red Flag Warning – Kurt Kamm
  • Los Angeles County is burning! A serial arsonist is setting the parched hills on fire. Plunge into the infernos, and face the heat, smoke and danger with the men on the fire lines. While NiteHeat prowls in the darkness, setting fires and taunting investigators, the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Arson Unit struggles to find the fire setter and stop the devastation. Follow Fire Captain Jim Kendall as he tries to find NiteHeat before the City of Malibu burns down.
• Hazardous Material – Kurt Kamm
  • “A firefighter battles a his own painkiller addiction and the infamous Vagos outlaw motorcycle gang. When he joins the Sheriff s Department in a drone search for a meth lab in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles, an enigmatic aerospace scientist joins the intrigue. Firefighting, hazardous materials, illicit drugs and aerospace technology are brought together in the fourth in a series of firefighter mysteries by award winning author Kurt Kamm “.
• Code Blood – Kurt Kamm
  • Colt Lewis, a rookie fire paramedic, is obsessed with finding the severed foot of his first victim after she dies in his arms. His search takes him into the connected lives of a graduate research student, with the rarest blood in the world and the vampire fetishist who is stalking her. Within the corridors of high-stakes medical research laboratories, the shadow world of body parts dealers, and the underground Goth clubs of Los Angeles, Lewis uncovers a tangled maze of needles, drugs and maniacal ritual, all of which lead to death. But whose death? An unusual and fast-paced LA Noir thriller. Code Blood was awarded FIRST PLACE in the 2012 International Book Awards Fiction-Cross Genre category
• On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace –  Dave Grossman & Loren W. Christensen
  • On Combat looks at what happens to the human body under the stresses of deadly battle the impact on the nervous system, heart, breathing, visual and auditory perception, memory – then discusses new research findings as to what measures warriors can take to prevent such debilitations so they can stay in the fight, survive, and win. A brief, but insightful look at history shows the evolution of combat, the development of the physical and psychological leverage that enables humans to kill other humans, followed by an objective examination of domestic violence in America. The authors reveal the nature of the warrior, brave men and women who train their minds and bodies to go to that place from which others flee. After examining the incredible impact of a few true warriors in battle, On Combat presents new and exciting research as to how to train the mind to become inoculated to stress, fear and even pain.
• Manual of Fire Safety – Prekash Sesha
• The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander – Pete Blaber
  • “A book about the complexities of combat that’s just as applicable for dealing with the complexities of business and our personal lives.” (Kevin Sharer, Chairman & CEO, Amgen) As a commander of Delta Force-the most elite counter-terrorist organization in the world-Pete Blaber took part in some of the most dangerous, controversial, and significant military and political events of our time. Now he takes his intimate knowledge of warfare-and the heart, mind, and spirit it takes to win-and moves his focus from the combat zone to civilian life. As the smoke clears from exciting stories about neverbefore-revealed top-secret missions that were executed all over the globe, readers will emerge wiser, more capable, and more ready for life’s personal victories than they ever thought possible.
• Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper’s Memoir of Fighting Wildfire – Murry Taylor
  • Fighting fires since 1965, veteran smokejumper Murry Taylor finally retired from his legendary career after last summer-the worst fire season in more than fifty years. After three decades of parachuting out of planes and battling blazes in the vast, rugged wilderness of Alaska and the West, Taylor recounts inJumping Fire, with passion and honesty, stories of man versus nature at its most furious and unforgiving. He shares what it’s like to hear the deafening roar, to smell the acrid burn, to feel the intense heat, to breathe the thick fumes, and to finally run for your life with exploding flames two hundred feet high and a mile wide licking at your heels.
    Written with a keen eye for detail and a talent for storytelling, “Jumping Fire is a tale of love and loss, life and death, and sheer hard work, set in an unforgiving and unforgettable landscape, that’s second only to Norman Maclean’s classic Young Men and Fire” (Publishers Weekly).
• The Rural Firefighting Handbook –  Dominic Colletti & Larry Davis
  • The Rural Firefighting Handbook, 2nd Edition: The no-nonsense guide to small community fire protection. This 278 page textbook provides detailed information on improving fire suppression for the small community fire department. Read this manual and find out: • Why your department’s capability to control and/or suppress fire is dependent on the “Big Five”: time, people, agent, hardware and procedures. Why water supply is a most critical component of the Big Five and how to calculate what’s required for structures within your service area • The role of burn and response times in rural fire deaths: how to make sense of NFPA’s response requirements for your small community volunteer fire department • How new technology, Class A foam and CAFS, can increase the capability of your firefighting resources, people, equipment and water supply • How to maximize water delivery rates from draft.
• Managing Major Fires – John F. Coleman
  • With 25 years of experience, Deputy Chief Coleman offers a common sense approach to handling larger, more unusual second and third alarm, or mutual-aid fires. He covers organization and structure, incident management, safety issues such as accountability systems, the rules of engagement for risk assessment and managing the Mayday, as well as fires in distinct occupancy types. Case studies are designed for departments of any size.
• Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire – John M. Maclean
  • In 1994, a wildfire on Colorado’s Storm King Mountain was wrongly identified at the outset as occurring in South Canyon. This unintentional, seemingly minor human error was merely the first in a string of mistakes that would be compounded into one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of firefighting. Before it was done, fourteen courageous firefighters—men and women, hotshots, smokejumpers, and helicopter crew—would lose their lives battling the deadly, so-called South Canyon blaze. John N. Maclean’s award-winning national bestseller Fire on the Mountain is a stunning reconstruction of the killer conflagration and its aftermath.
• The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal – John M. Maclean
  • “Pitilessly compelling, the sort of saga devoured in one horrified sitting.”—National Geographic Adventure. The Thirtymile Fire in the North Cascade Range near the Canadian border of Washington began as a simple mop-up operation; in a few hours, a series of catastrophic errors led to the entrapment and deaths of four members of the fire crew—two teenage girls and two young men. Each had brought order and meaning to their lives by joining the firefighting world. Then the very flames they pursued turned on them, extinguishing their lives.
• The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57 – John M. Maclean
  • When a jury returns to a packed courtroom to announce its verdict in a capital murder case every noise, even a scraped chair or an opening door, resonates like a high-tension cable snap. Spectators stop rustling in their seats; prosecution and defense lawyers and the accused stiffen into attitudes of wariness; and the judge looks on owlishly. In that atmosphere of heightened expectation the jury entered a Riverside County Superior Court room in southern California to render a decision in the trial of Raymond Oyler, charged with murder for setting the Esperanza Fire of 2006, which killed a five man Forest Service engine crew sent to fight the blaze.
• Chief: The Life Of Peter J. Ganci, A New York City Firefighter – Chris Ganci
  • This full-color, photo-illustrated picture book is not only a loving tribute from a son to his father who gave his life on September 11th, but a bow to all of the firefighters who are heroes everyday. Pete Ganci was Chief of the FDNY. He was funny, brave, determined, and, ultimately, selfless. On September 11th, he died doing what he loved most–fighting fires and saving lives. CHIEF is a chronicle of Ganci’s career, written by his youngest son, Chris. But it is also the story of what firefighters do every day.
    Illustrated with personal pictures from the Ganci family and professional photos from the FDNY, this is a portrait of a man who loved his job. And it is Chris’s effort to honor all those who sacrificed their lives on 9/11 and who have continued to risk their lives everyday since.
• The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness – Christopher Brennan
  • Firefighting is combat and should be viewed as a warrior’s calling. Firefighters put themselves in harm’s way to protect others, a selflessness rooted in the same noble drive as the military warriors who defend our nation. This book about combat is meant to be a guide for those who seek to follow a warrior’s path, the path of the fire service warrior.
• Building Construction for the Fire Service (Third Edition) – Francis L. Brannigan
  • Protect against the life-threatening dangers of building collapse! Extensively updated, revised, and expanded, this 3rd edition text shows you how to recognize the signs of building collapse before it happens–so you can get out while there’s still time. You’ll be informed about critical topics such as: The toxic combustion products of vermin- and moisture-resistant treated wood. The outcome of multi-million-dollar lawsuits involving some fire-retardant treated plywood. The total collapse hazard to post-tensioned concrete buildings under construction. The dynamics of the “stack effect”… and more! Photographs and illustrations help you visualize key concepts, so you can spot dangers on the job.
• The Last Alarm: First Responders’ Stories of the West Explosion –  Amber Adamson
  • Shortly before 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, a fire siren ripped through a quiet evening in the Central Texas town of West. Members of the West Volunteer Fire Department suited up and headed toward the blaze at the West Fertilizer Company. At the West EMS building, several volunteer firefighters from surrounding communities who were in class heard the call and went as well. Other community citizens, some trained as first responders, headed toward the fire to see how they could help. Minutes later, those fighting the fire realized they were in over their heads. As the men were working to pull out until more help could arrive, the fertilizer plant violently erupted, killing 12 of the first responders on the scene. Three of the community’s approximately 2,800 citizens were killed that night. Houses were destroyed for blocks. Hundreds were hurt, and dozens were missing. The earth shook for miles. Word spread fast as first responders across Central Texas – and soon the state and the world – learned of what happened in West. As help streamed in, volunteer and career fire fighters, EMS workers and other first responders stood shoulder-to-shoulder putting out fires, triaging the injured and evacuating the town. Over the next few days, hundreds more would converge on West to remember the fallen – 12 men who died honorably in the line of duty. That devastating night, and the long, hard days that followed forever will stay in the minds of those who were called to serve. This is their story of sacrifice and spirit.
• Women at Ground Zero: Stories of Courage and Compassion – Susan Hagen & Mary Carouba
  • This book is a powerful collection of first-person stories told by female firefighters, police officers, paramedics, EMTs, and others who responded to the events of September 11 and its aftermath. Women at Ground Zero provides a unique perspective on the events of that terrible day through the eyes of women rescuers who risked their lives to save others. Through their heartbreaking and inspiring stories, the voices of female rescue workers and their contributions at Ground Zero are finally heard.
• Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11 – Patrick Creed & Rick Newman
  • Amid all the stories of tragedy and heroism on September 11, there is one tale that has yet to be told–the gripping account of ordinary men and women braving the inferno at the Pentagon to rescue friends and co-workers, save the nation’s military headquarters, and defend their country.
    Pentagon firefighters Alan Wallace and Mark Skipper had just learned the shocking news that planes had struck the World Trade Center when they saw something equally inconceivable: a twin-engine jetliner flying straight at them. It was American Airlines Flight 77, rushing toward its target. In his Pentagon office, Army major David King was planning a precautionary evacuation when the room suddenly erupted in flames. Arlington firefighters Derek Spector, Brian Roache, and Ron Christman, among the first responders at the scene, were stunned by the sight that met them: a huge flaming hole gouged into the Pentagon’s side, a lawn strewn with smoking debris, and thousands of people, some badly injured, stumbling away from what would become one of the most daunting fires in American history.
• In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam – Robert S. McNamara & Brian VanDeMark
  • The #1 national bestseller–an indispensable document for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. McNamara’s controversial book tells the inside and personal story of America’s descent into Vietnam from a unique point of view, and is one of the most enlightening books about government ever written. This new edition features a new Foreword by McNamara. of photos. (Military History)
• Forged in Fire: History of the Fire Brigades Union – Victor Bailey
  • The risks and almost casual heroism which are integral parts of the firefighters’ job have not only created an intense camaraderie among the workforce but also made their union one which inspires enormous loyalty and respect. “Forged in Fire” tells the story of the FBU not through a traditional chronology, but through a series of interlinked essays which highlights the most fascinating aspects of the union’s history. They include an account of the role played by women in the fire service and FBU during the war, an analysis of the social composition of a union once largely made up of ex-merchant seamen and an assessment of the bitter national strike in the winter of 1977-78, the only official dispute in the union’s history. “Forged in Fire” also contains a number of autobiographical pieces by both former leaders of the union, including John Horner who was its general secretary during the war years, and rank-and-file members with their reminiscences of the 1977-78 strike. Contributors include: John Saville, David Englander, Kenneth Brown and Terry Segars.
• Firefighters – JoEllen L. Kelly (Editor), Robert A. Yatsuk (Editor), J. Gordon Routley (Editor)
  • America’s first responders answer the call nearly two million times each year as the nation’s first line of defense in any emergency. Firefighters captures the spirit of the firefighting community in a riveting collection of 500 contemporary and vintage photographs. Written by experts, historians, fire chiefs, and officers, the book features first-hand accounts of courage in the face of danger; essays on urban and wildland firefighting; a look at training, trucks, and apparatus; and an overview of the history of U.S. fire departments, beginning with Ben Franklin’s Union Fire Company in Philadelphia in 1736. Also included is information on volunteering, search and rescue, emergency medical services, and response to terrorism. Firefighters enables the history of America’s bravest profession to be cherished permanently in a handsome package that all firefighters will be proud to own and display. This book will be read again and again by past and present firefighters, their families and friends, and by everyone interested in stories of bravery. It is being published in this magnificent collector’s edition in conjunction with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
• We’re Not Leaving: 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice, and Renewal – Benjamin J. Luft
  • “We’re Not Leaving” is a compilation of powerful first-person narratives told from the vantage point of World Trade Center disaster workers-police officers, firefighters, construction workers, and other volunteers at the site. While the effects of 9/11 on these everyday heroes and heroines are indelible, and in some cases have been devastating, at the heart of their deeply personal stories-their harrowing escapes from the falling Towers, the egregious environment they worked in for months, the alarming health effects they continue to deal with-is their witness to their personal strength and renewal in the ten years since. These stories, shared by ordinary people who responded to disaster and devastation in extraordinary ways, remind us of America’s strength and inspire us to recognize and ultimately believe in our shared values of courage, duty, patriotism, self-sacrifice, and devotion, which guide us in dark times.
• How Winning Works: 8 Essential Leadership Lessons from the Toughest Teams on Earth – Robyn Benincasa
  • Practical and accessible with workbook activities and exercises for readers to do, this book shares the eight essential elements of teamwork, using Benincasa’s exciting, challenging, and life-affirming experiences as an extreme world class adventure racer.
• The Downwind Walk: A USAR Paramedic’s Experiences After the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001 – Steve Kanarian
  • The Downwind Walk lets you experience the tragic events following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001 through the eyes of an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) paramedic who went into harm’s way to rescue the victims, which rapidly included many of his “brothers” and “sisters” of the New York Fire Department (NYFD) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The author was a member of the EMS FDNY in the Bronx who was deployed with the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) USAR team at Ground Zero. He went downwind with the USAR team after they set up operations and donned the proper protective clothing and breathing protection. Their mission was to take a first hand look at that mass casualty incident (MCI), assess the damage and losses, and make an estimation of resources needed to mitigate the incident. The reader is invited to take the downwind walk with Steve as he recounts the events, sights, smells and vivid memories of that unforgettable September . . . from eye level at Ground Zero, in his dusty boots.
• Fahrenheit 451: A Novel – Ray Bradbury
  • Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.
• The Toll of Valor – Lyle Markey
  • The Toll of Valor is first in a series of novels. Meet Russ ‘Duke’ Marlin – an ornery boy growing up in a small Kansas town. Duke was born to be a firefighter. Julie Goodin, a preacher’s daughter, is meant to be his girl. A family of firefighters, Duty – Honor – Valor is the Marlin tradition, and those three words transform a boy into a man. Each day, Julie matures with beauty and grace, and Duke discovers, that comes with a price. Deward Banksiana has a fetish and a pentagram tattoo, and his eye is on Julie. Quick with his fists – faster in his Mach 1, Duke and the War Horse can’t protect Julie from every danger. And Julie can’t protect Duke from the hazards of firefighting. Threats and a haunting premonition force Julie into a series of schemes to save Duke and the last resort is always the most brutal. Weakened by a constant barrage of carnage, a tsunami of tragic events hurls Duke into a syndrome known to firefighters as the Tin Man – it is ‘the toll of valor’ Julie battles her own demons, but she’s committed to bringing Duke back. With Julie by his side, Duke rediscovers Christ’s presence in his life and the power of forgiveness. Then on the morning of her wedding day, Julie awakens to the sound of a storm, or is it another premonition . . .
• Effective Company Command for Company Officers in the Professional Fire Service – James Page
• Miss You, Pat – Sharon Watts
  • Captain Patrick J. Brown of the FDNY had an uncanny ability to be exactly where he was needed at exactly the right time, most especially on 9/11/2001, when he perished, surrounded by scores of burn victims he was trying to evacuate from the World Trade Center. Everyone who knew Pat agreed that he would have been nowhere else that day. And yet, Pat was much more than a firefighter. Pat was a yoga devotee. A Black Belt in karate who taught the blind. An accomplished boxer. A USMC Vietnam War vet. A Broadway musical theatre buff. And throughout it all, a spiritual seeker. Many people whose lives he touched shared their stories and memories with his close friend and former fiancee. The result is an intimate and moving book, with first-person narratives illustrating Pat’s deep and varied life. Idiosyncratic, personal memories blend with career stories that illustrate what made him such an intuitive, beloved friend, and such a legend in the FDNY. He inspires us all. Proceeds go to Bent On Learning.
• So Others Might Live – Terry Golway
  • On September 11, 2001, the courage and sacrifice of the New York City Fire Department inspired the nation, giving new meaning to the word “hero.” But the heroism of the firefighters was not unique to September 11–it has been part of the FDNY’s tradition from the very beginning. Journalist Terry Golway, whose father, father-in-law, godfather, and uncles were all New York firefighters, tells as no one else could the story of the men and women, tragedies and triumphs of the FDNY throughout its history. From the original eighteenth-century volunteer force to the New York Firefighter unit in the Union Army, from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire to the arson epidemic of the 1970s, to contemporary issues of diversity and efficiency, Golway’s history holds up a mirror for firefighters throughout the U.S.In this first comprehensive chronicle of the FDNY in over sixty years, Golway weaves together stories of heroic firefighters and extraordinary fires to create a moving and original history of the city and the vocation as seen through the eyes of “New York’s Bravest.” From America’s most ambitious public-works project of the 1700s–the building of aqueducts from upstate to help control fires–to firefighter-turned-politician Boss Tweed’s backroom politics, fire and firefighters have always been an integral part of the history of the city. Lively, gut-wrenching, and ultimately inspiring, So Others Might Live offers a new view of the building of American cities and the people who made them great.As a tribute to the firefighters of New York, Basic Books will donate a portion of its proceeds from the sale of So Others Might Live to the New York Firefighters 911 Disaster Relief Fund.
• Blood & Fire: Part 1: Vendetta – K M Bozarth
  • When Firefighter Samantha Espisito-Carelli lands her dream job, she doesn’t realize her ex-flame is also a firefighter at Laurel Run Fire Department, not to mention, was her New Jersey State Trooper husband’s once best friend; the drama really flares when a cunning arsonist targets Sam’s shift and the new Captain with ‘white helmet syndrome’ makes life a living hell. The lives of Firefighter Sam, her State Trooper husband Holt Carelli, and Sam’s ex, Firefighter Aaron Shaw, unfold as they suffer setbacks in their personal lives, and do the unthinkable on nothing but faith and adrenaline in their professional ones. An emotional and thrilling work of fiction, that gives an inside look into lives of professional heroes. Blood & Fire is surely the most epic firefighter saga since Ladder 49 and it’s predecessor Backdraft. “This book is a quick, fast read that was hard to put down. It has a blazing pace and keeps you turning the pages to find out what’s going to happen. Having worked on a fire department for ten years I can say that Bozarth nails the emotional reality of being a female firefighter and the job in general. Station life. Truck work. Camaraderie. Male communication (or lack thereof)…Bozarth has compassion for all her characters, even the flawed ones. She captures the way men talk and bond and how a woman perceives them…I highly recommend this for anyone who wants to read about a life in the fire service…” –Gea Leigh Haff, from THREAD OF STEEL, Firefighter/Paramedic/Rescue Diver at Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
• The Fire Inside: Firefighters Talk About Their Lives – Steve Delsohn
  • Delsohn “(captures) the heart of what firefighting is all about–bringing order to chaos, walking into the worst moment in people’s lives and making a difference . . . It’s all here: the raw, dark humor; the triumphant victories; the heart-wrenching failures. . . . A graphic, poignant, and dead-on insider’s view of the fire service” (John Gilstrap, author of “Nathan’s Run”).
• Industrial Firefighting for Municipal Firefighters – Craig H. Shelley
  • Although municipal firefighters respond to industrial fires or emergencies on a daily basis, even the largest fire departments often focus most of their training and attention on residential and commercial structures, vehicles or wildland firefighting. This book was written to specifically prepare the municipal firefighter for responses to a wide range of industrial fires, where the situation will be much different. As advances in automation and reductions in industrial fire brigades are made, it is increasingly likely that firefighters will be called to an incident at one of these vulnerable facilities due to a fire or terrorist event, and municipal firefighters must be prepared to respond.
• Strategy of Firefighting – Vincent Dunn
  • This is a “how to” book written by a “know how” person for anyone who practices firefighting strategy. Deputy Chief Vincent Dunn is passing on to the next generation of firefighters the lessons (“strategy summaries”) he learned from his years of firefighting experience. He describes firefighting strategies for the most common types of fire scenarios and identifies specific firefighting problems presented to an incident commander by occupancy and construction type. More importantly, he explains firefighting solutions and offers firefighting plans, standard procedures, action plans, ideas, guidelines, explanations, key steps, and systems of firefighting procedures. This book is not about tactics. It’s about strategy – plans of firefighting, logical ways to solve problems at fires.

If you have made it this far, be sure to check out PART I which includes another 54 must read books!