Children Books about Firefighters

Description

This volume was originally published in 1894 and tells the story of what it was like to fight fires in New York in the19th century. In fact, this original edition, in text, if not in pictures, could have stood as a fairly right description from the physical workings of the New York Fire Department to-day, for though equip- ment and apparatus have altered considerably inside the past few years, there has been no material modify in the actual work of extinguishing fires. And if the present volume should meet with an equally cordial re- ception the time devoted to gathering the new ma- terial has been properly spent indeed. The process of these men, though modified somewhat by improved appliances, re- mains just as heroic and picturesque as it did when the very first edition of this book was issued in 1897. New systems for supplying it in greater volume and devices for directing it far more accurately in the heart of a fire have done much to aid the fire- fighter in his work; but his calling remains just as perilous and as full of dangerous uncertainties as it was twenty-five years ago. From the book's Foreword:This little volume, revised and brought thor- oughly up-to-date, in text and pictures, is offered as a modest appreciation of the perform with the New York firemen. In conclusion the author wishes to supply to Mr. Walter Harris, Mr. Charles G. Kiehl, Mr. Samuel Newman, the Outlook company, and a number of other friendly helpers, his grateful acknowledgment for the use of drawings and photographs, which have aided largely in furnishing the pictorial effect that, higher than any words, conveys for the reader a realistic comprehension of a fire- man's life and his unfailing heroism. The favor with which this small book was received by the general public, and by the American boy in particular, proved beyond ques- tion that just such an appreciation from the firemen and their work was wanted. No better substitute than water as a medium for stopping fire has but been found. And it was to tell of these dangers and hardships, as well as to describe the exact way in which a modern fire department was managed, that the first edition of"Fighting a Fire' was issued almost twenty years ago.