Books from the Newark Fire Department Oral
History Project
This is our history, covering the years 1940 to 2016. 121 Newark firefighters, including every rank on the job, spoke about why they became firefighters, the tests they took, the Academy, and their hours (beginning at 84/week) & salary. Their stories show the wide range of people, reasons, & experiences that over the decades made firefighting the best job in world.
No matter what rank they had attained by the time they spoke with me, each began their career as a probationary firefighter "Learning the Job."
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From veteran firefighter to Chief of Department, all members of the Newark Fire Department began their careers as Probationary Firefighters. Most fresh out of the Academy, some fresh off the street reporting to their first assignment without training or turnout gear. None with any Newark experience in their chosen profession. What did it feel like walking into that first firehouse, responding to that first fire? In First Days/First Nights, Newark firefighters recount their earliest experiences on the job. The comic mixes with the tragic in these tales of how fire service careers began from the 1940s to the 2010s.
Check it out at Lulu:
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There are 175 Newark “remembrances” as told by Newark firefighters appointed between 1940 and 2016. Most were “born and raised” in Newark.
They came from every section of the city and from varying ethnic and racial backgrounds. Some moved into the city as young adults. A few of the childhood memories harken back to the 1920s.
Every rank of the fire department is represented among those interviewed. Two of the interviewees served as Fire Director. Three served as Fire Chief. That being said, this is a story told by average Newarkers.
There are no politicians, no great movers of events, no celebrities, and certainly no wealthy elite included. The memories recounted are at street level recalling everyday life in New Jersey’s most populous city from the 1920s to the 2020s.
That city was their childhood home. It is the city they knew as young adults and the place they worked, where they saw the best and the worst it had to offer.
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An Eerie Silence: An Oral History of Newark Firefighters
at the WTC (188 Pages)
Lulu Bookstore
On September 11, 2001 343 brother firefighters made the ultimate sacrifice fulfilling the oath they took to protect lives and property. Hundreds of Newark firefighters joined FDNY personnel and firefighters from around the metro area in a desperate rescue effort to save lives the first few days after the Towers came down. None knew the conditions to which they were responding. They only knew the need.
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Changing the NFD: Volume VI of the Newark
Fire Department Oral History The
Firehouse Fraternity (226 pages)Lulu Bookstore
In this final book of the Firehouse Fraternity series, the changes experienced by Newark firefighters are discussed. Learn about the forces behind these changes and how men worked to bring them about--or to resist them. What conflicts were experienced within the firehouse as the NFD moved through the later half of the 20th Century? What was the union’s role and how did that role evolve over the decades? What was the effect of the 1972 strike? How has each generation viewed the new kids coming on the job? It is said that the only thing that does not change is the fact that everything changes. Yet the more things change, the more they remain the same. Has technology and society really changed the NFD, or are the changes only on the surface, with the job remaining very similar to what it was like back in 1942? Read Changing the NFD and decide for yourself.
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Riots to Renaissance: Volume V of the Newark
Fire Department Oral History The
Firehouse Fraternity (192 pgs)Lulu Bookstore
In Riots to Renaissance the story of the Newark Fire Department from that fateful July in 1967 to the experiences of 2003 are recounted. This volume begins with the warning signs that an explosion was about to occur on Newark’s streets. The men who fought the fires created by that explosion then describe in detail what they felt and how they dealt with the societal chaos that was Newark in July of 1967. If you have read A View from the Firehouse: The Newark Riots, you are familiar with the fire department history of those troubled nights. The stories told in this book will introduce you to how it felt and what members of the Newark Fire Department did to get through that time.
The next chapters follow Newark and her fire department as they spiral downward until the city is nothing but a shell of its former self. It was said that wherever America’s cities were going, Newark would get there first. During the 20 years that followed the Riots, it appeared America’s cities would simply burn to the ground, but by the late 1980s hope had crept back into the picture. The members of the NFD were fighting fires and saving lives throughout this period when the city was transformed and reborn, some say becoming America’s renaissance city. Follow Newark firefighters through the worst period in the history of the city and into an era of hope.
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Responding: Volume IV of the Newark
Fire Department Oral History The
Firehouse Fraternity (216 pages)Lulu Bookstore
Read what it was like to go into a building everyone else was running or jumping from. Newark firefighters appointed between 1942 and 1978 describe their experiences on the scene of fires and assorted other emergencies to which they responded.
Responding leaves the firehouse and rolls out into the streets of Newark where our work is done. You are brought into the fire building to share the satisfaction and sacrifices inherent in the fire service. Crawl down the hot dark hallways of fire buildings with Newark's bravest. The reader is introduced to responding and fire fighting procedures. Memorable fires from 1942 to 1966 are recounted along with unusual responses from the '40's to the '90's. Vivid memories of tragedies and lost brothers are re-lived with poignant honesty as the men continue to paint an unvarnished history of New Jersey's largest city.
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Equipment:
Volume III of the Newark Fire Department Oral History The Firehouse Fraternity.
(154 pages)Lulu Bookstore
From Ahrens-Fox rigs with chain drives, open cabs, steering wheels on the right, and firefighters hanging on the back step to the air conditioned crew cabs of today, trucks used by the NFD are recalled by the men who drove them. The turn out gear worn to protect them while crawling through burning buildings is described, as is the evolution of the hose they pulled in with them. If you ever wondered what it was like to drive a rig with mechanical brakes and manual steering to a fire or drag 2 1/2" line up three flights of stairs, this book is for you. Follow the men of the NFD as they move from wooden ladders, rotary or piston positive displacement pumps, and filtered masks to today's modern rigs and positive pressure self contained breathing apparatus (SCBAs).
Members of the NFD appointed between 1942 and 1978 remember from the days of iron men and wooden ladders when masks were rarely worn to the present day of PEOSHA regulations and enclosed air conditioned crew cabs. The evolution of rigs, turn-out gear, hose and nozzles, and ladders and tools is discussed, showing the steady progress of the fire service over the last half of the 20th century and into the new millennium. The only thing that hasn’t changed through these decades is the dedication of firefighters.
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Life Between Alarms: Volume II of the Newark
Fire Department Oral History The
Firehouse Fraternity. (208 pages)Lulu Bookstore
Read what life was like in Newark’s firehouses while waiting for the bell to hit. “Life Between Alarms” takes you into the private world of the firehouse where firemen eat, sleep, drill, and do the housework (someone has to clean the place). The bonds formed last a lifetime as do the laughs (boys will be boys).
Members of the NFD appointed from 1942 to 1978 talk about the daily routine of the firehouse, the responsibilities of the housed watch, the unique camaraderie shared by firefighters, studying for promotion and then adjusting to new responsibilities after being promoted, and finally the humor used by firemen to break up the monotony of waiting for the "big one." Find out what it was like to be a member of the "best men's club in the world."
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Becoming a Firefighter: Volume I of the Newark
Fire Department Oral History The
Firehouse Fraternity. (176 pages)Lulu Bookstore
Why would anyone want to be a firefighter? If this question intrigues you, read on.
This book will bring back personal memories to firefighters who read it. For those of you who are trying to understand why anyone would want to be a fireman, "Becoming a Firefighter" will introduce you to the special breed who quietly protect us everyday.
Members of the NFD appointed from 1942 to 1978 recount their impressions of the city where most of them grew up. The why and how of getting on the job are remembered; as are training experiences, the make up of the department they joined, the hours they worked, and the salary they earned.
Read the words of men from every rank of Newark's bravest as they tell of their efforts to get on “the best damn job in the world.”
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A View from the Firehouse: The Newark Riots. (126 pages)Lulu Bookstore
Members of the Newark Fire Department were in a unique position to view the tragedy of the Newark riots as they unfolded around them. Their firehouses were part of the neighborhoods wracked by the rioting. The community imploding before them had pulsed passed the firehouse doors the days and weeks prior to the eruption. Primarily based on interviews with Newark firefighters who lived through the disturbances, this book recounts the experiences of the men who responded to the pulled fireboxes, fought the fires, and endured the wrath of rioters. The view is at ground level, eye to eye with the disaster that engulfed Newark those four hot July nights in 1967. Fire is the most commonly used tool of rioters and protesters, yet the role of the NFD during this tumultuous period has been overlooked repeatedly by historians. This book is an attempt to correct this oversight.
Included is an appendix containing the verbatim journal entries of twelve of the companies that responded to the fires and other emergencies handled by the NFD during the disturbances that July.
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