These fires kill. In 1966 twelve firemen were thrust into their own funeral pyre when the floor they were standing on collapsed. Their bodies were carried out by their brother fire fighters. In 1980 two hundred eighty-nine civilians lost their lives in fire, and their bodies, too, were carried out by fire fighters. If you are a fire fighter in the FDNY you have almost a fifty percent chance that within the next year you will become unable to complete your tour of duty because you have been hospitalized or sent home by the department's physician for an illness or an injury you sustained on the job.
Fire fighting is the most hazardous peacetime occupation.
In 1985 the twelve thousand fire fighters in New York City battled 97,535 fires. They made a total of 311,551 runs, of which 132,494 were false alarms. The remaining 81,522 runs were in response to incidents ranging from gas leaks to rescuing a pilot trapped underwater in a helicopter. The FDNY is the busiest department in the world. Like the city it serves, the FDNY has seen many changes over the past thirty years.