When you’re new to the fire service, you always assume that your career’s momentous events will center around raging fires and dramatic rescues. This amazing compilation of firehouse journals and images captured by a photojournalist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who had unrestricted access to fire scenes, shares those stories with the world in this beautiful compilation of journal entries and images. These stories such as “When Bullets Fly,” “Fire at the Historic Matthew Keenan House,” the “777 N. Jefferson Street Fire,” and “Schowalter Building Fire A Tragic Brady Street Architectural Loss.” These recollections encompass flashovers, exits thru windows, unbearable heat, close calls, and the valiant efforts of firefighters, who toiled valiantly, despite being hampered by cold and ice, or the heat.

Over 100 Milwaukee firefighters have died and many more seriously injured in the line of duty. During the past fifty years, we have made great strides in firefighting safety procedures and equipment, and some of these stories led the way to the implementation of those changes.