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Cast in heroic role, firefighters bask in public acceptance
By David Armstrong, Globe Staff, 02/07/99
 he slogan on the billboard planted in front of the Boston Fire Department headquarters proclaims that firefighters are ''there when you need us.''
Although the number of fires in the city has dropped by more than half over the past decade, the reason men and women become firefighters has changed little over the years: It is being first to the rescue and, more fundamentally, helping people that attracts them to the job.
District Chief Curtis Holzendorf remembers the words of an elderly woman as he drove on a firetruck during the Blizzard of '78. ''God bless you, firefighters,'' she told Holzendorf. He was instantly struck by the fact that people associate firefighters with being helpful.
Unlike police officers, firefighters are almost always cast in the role of rescuer, comforter, or helper.
''There is enormous satisfication in the work itself,'' said Carol Chetkovich, an assistant professor of public policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, who wrote a book about the experience of fire recruits in Oakland. ''Firefighters told me, 'We are the guys in white hats. People are always glad to see us.'''
In dozens of interviews, firefighters repeatedly pointed to the reception they get from the public as the most rewarding aspect of the job.
''There is a sense of satisfaction saving someone's life or property,'' said Deputy Fire Chief Paul Christian, a 31-year veteran. ''People are glad to see us when we show up.''
There is a flip side to the heroism and public service, a danger that is also part of the rich firefighting tradition. At any time, on any call, a firefighter may be put in a position that threatens his or her life.
Fire Commissioner Martin E. Pierce Jr. said firefighting is the only profession that requires someone to run into a burning building when everyone else is running out.
And that's another thing firefighters like about the job.
''There is no job like it,'' said Neal Santangelo, president of the Boston firefighters' union, Local 718 of the International Association of Firefighters.
In Boston, 170 firefighters have died in the line of duty. The memory of nine firefighters killed during the Vendome Hotel fire in 1972, and five who died when a brick wall collapsed on them during a Dorchester building fire in 1964, is still fresh in the minds of many in the department.
Two weeks ago, the longest-serving member of the department suffered a fatal heart attack at his stationhouse. The presence of some 3,000 firefighters from across the region at Joseph R. Murphy's funeral last Wednesday was yet another reminder of the profession's tight bonds.
Pierce is intimately familiar with both the tradition and pain of firefighting. His father served 37 years on the department and an uncle died fighting a fire.
He was also commissioner when Lieutenant Stephen F. Minehan died while searching for two other firefighters feared lost inside a burning East Boston warehouse in 1994.
''I know the pain involved and the danger,'' Pierce said. ''The memory [of Minehan] comes back. It was a tragic night for the department.''
This story ran on page A31 of the Boston Globe on 02/07/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
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