RIP Dennis Smith: Hero

Dennis Smith passed away a couple of weeks ago, but I got sidetracked by weather stuff in writing about it.

 

As I've said before, the term "hero" gets thrown around way too much these days, and often at people who haven't earned the title. There are many people I admire who aren't heroes. Those who truly are heroes will insist they are not.

Dennis Smith was a hero.

He didn't look like a hero. Heroes rarely do.

He was an author of sixteen books and otherwise led a successful life, but what made him a hero is the eighteen years he spent as a firefighter for the City of New York. He took the oath in 1963, and a few years later transferred to Engine Company 82: The busiest single fire company in New York and, it's believed, the busiest one in the world at the time.

He didn't retire for another ten years after his first book, Report From Engine Co. 82, became a best seller. In 1976 he founded Firehouse Magazine, which became the most popular periodical for firefighters in the world, and he was a civic leader in many other areas. He was an advocate for firefighters, and even produced a series of training videos.

 

Then, on September 11, 2001--almost twenty years after he retired--Dennis Smith showed up at Ground Zero to assist his brothers and sisters. He spent 57 days helping with rescue and recovery efforts, later chronicled in Report From Ground Zero.

He didn't have to. But see, that's what a hero is: Someone who does something for others, despite risks to their own selves, when they don't have to.

I became interested in firefighting in my late teens, and there were few books on the subject at our local library. One was Report From Engine Co. 82. I read it over and over, of course, then I went searching for his other books.

He had a spare, matter of fact style of writing, and when he told stories about his work in the FDNY he didn't brag: He just told what happened, straight out. The risks they take, the injuries they received, are shocking to the reader, but just another day for Dennis and his coworkers.

Dennis Smith influenced me as both a writer and a firefighter, and I'm forever grateful to have that influence in my life. Rest In Peace, Firefighter Smith. If anyone earned it, you did.

From Wikipedia:

Dennis Smith has written sixteen books in his career, among them:

• Report from Engine Co. 82
• Final Fire
• Glitter & Ash
• Steely Blue
• History of Firefighting in America
• The Aran Islands – A Personal Journey
• Firehouse (accompanying photographs by Jill Freedman)
• Dennis Smith's Fire Safety Book
• Firefighters – Their Lives in Their Own Words
• A Song for Mary
• Report from Ground Zero
• San Francisco Is Burning – The Untold Story of the 1906 Earthquake and Fires
• A Decade of Hope – Stories of Grief and Endurance from 9/11 Families and Friends
• Of Love and Courage

For children:

• The Little Fire Engine That Saved The City
• Brassy the Fire Engine