FDNY Tales - Dennis Smith

Dennis Smith is a former firefighter, a writer, president of a financial services company for emergency services personnel, and an advocate for firefighters in the United States.

He began his career with FDNY in 1963, retiring in 1982.

In 1972, Smith wrote Report from Engine Co. 82, a non-fictional account of life in the South Bronx firehouse in which he served. It was a New York Times best seller, sold more than three million copies, and has been translated into thirteen languages.

He has subsequently written 13 other books (see below). A Song for Mary was chosen by Book-of-the-Month Club as the best memoir of 1999. Report from Ground Zero, was number two on the New York Times Best Seller list in March, 2002. He is currenly working on his fifteenth book.

Mr. Smith was featured very heavily in the 1972 BBC documentary Man Alive: The Bronx is Burning where he gave a graphic account of the life of a firefighter in the Bronx.

In 1976, Smith founded Firehouse magazine, the largest circulating magazine for firefighters in the world.

Dennis Smith is a prominent leader in a number of New York City and national charitable organizations, serves on the board of the Congressional Fire Services Institute.

He was a long term trustee of the New York Police & Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund which benefits the families of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty, and the New York Fire Foundation. He continues to serve as a trustee of The Tribute Visitor's Center at New York's Ground Zero, and also as a board member of the Congressional Fire Services Institute.

In 1992, Smith began developing a series of financial services businesses directed to firefighters. His company, First Responders Financial, provides financial products to millions of public safety professionals.

Dennis Smith books:

• A Decade of Hope - Stories of Grief and Endurance from 9/11 Families and Friends, 2011
• A Song for Mary: An Irish-American Memory, 1999
• (The) Aran Islands, 1980
• Brassy the Fire Engine, 2005
• (The) Final Fire, 1975
• Firefighters: Their Lives in Their Own Words, 1988
• Firehouse (with Jill Freedman), 1978
• Glitter & Ash, 1980
• Dennis Smith's History of Firefighting in America, 1980
• (The) Little Fire Engine That Saved The City, 1990
• Report from Engine Co.82, 1972
• Report from Ground Zero, 2001
• San Francisco Is Burning - The Untold Story of the 1906 Earthquake and Fires, 2005
• Steely Blue, 1984

See the FDNY Bibliography for those titles currently available for sale.

Now it's your turn. If you have a story that you'd like to submit, or have an idea for a story please let us know. Send it to: fdnytales@Fire-Police-EMS.com

Thanks, Ira Hoffman