Lights & Sirens: A Life on the Chicago Fire Department, F. Pat Burns, 2009

Lights & Sirens follows Pat Burns' career from a raw and inexperienced "candidate" firefighter to Cause and Origin Investigator, and follows his rise through the ranks as he crawls the smoke-filled hallways of Chicago's tough West Side. Later Pat's talents as a superb investigator and respected leader were tapped to help reorganize the new Office of Fire Investigation.

Flames and arsonists, life and death, humor and tragedy were all part of Pat's career, and he chronicles them all in Lights & Sirens. As Pat would say, "There's no B.S. in this book! This stuff all really happened."

The Chicago Fire Department is the second largest fire department in the United States. With almost 5000 firefighters and paramedics, the CFD has a long and proud history of both tradition and innovation in its efforts to provide fire suppression, fire prevention, rescue, and emergency medical service to the almost three million people who call "The City of Big Shoulders" their home.

Pat Burns was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. When he was discharged from the Marines, his Uncle Emmett encouraged him to take the exams for both the Chicago Fire Department and the Chicago Police Department. Pat scored well on both tests and took the first job he was offered -- the police. He enjoyed the excitement of the CPD and was a tough street cop, but when the Chicago Fire Department called, Pat answered the bell and joined his brother Bill and his Uncle Emmett on the CFD in 1961.

The 1960s and 1970s were times of great political, social, and cultural upheaval in America's cities, and Chicago was no exception. It was an extraordinarily challenging time to be an urban firefighter. Pat Burns met the challenge. He began his career on Squad 8, and soon was assigned to the Bureau of Fire Investigation where he worked with the police department's Bomb and Arson Unit

6" x 9 1/4", 232 pages, hardcover, ISBN: 978-1-879848-45-0, BL5330 / $24.95

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