The most impressive thing about the New York Fire Department has always been the extraordinary way FDNY firefighters do their job - dedicated and heroic sometimes beyond belief.

For many years, the author wanted to write something that would somehow convey what it is to be a firefighter and what it was when they were called firemen. With all the danger there was in the pre-9/11 Fire Department, it had an innocence about it that has not existed since September 11, 2001.

In 31 years as a firefighter and officer, George Kreuscher responded to 28,000 alarms as a member of Engine 230, Ladder 102 and Rescue 1.

Late in his career, he instructed probationary firefighters, taught auto extrication and the use of rescue tools and was part of the "Collapse of Buildings" program given to the rescue companies which eventually became FDNY's Rescue School. He was one of the original FDNY divers, as well as Master of Ceremonies during Fire Prevention Week at South Street Seaport and Rockefeller Center.

Forty-six photos (many by the great fire photographer Alex Donchin) complement the book