Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I originally bought this book used for something like two bucks, expecting very little from it. Just another one of my fire-guy books that I like to read.
I was quite pleasantly surprised when I realized that many of the stories were ones I knew or had heard told and re-told in the fire academy and in the firehouse. They were well-researched and well-told versions of stories that I only ever knew the "gist" of. Famous rescues made by firefighters famous in the fire service: The woman they cut out of the collapse of a building also on fire during the 1989 San Francisco quake. Atlanta FF Matt Mosely rescuing a worker off a crane while dangling from a helicopter. The Worcester 6 in 1999. The double rope rescues made by Paddy Brown, Paddy Barr, and Kevin Shea in NYC in 1991 that was the inspiration for the rope rescue in the movie Ladder 49.
This is not a throw-away book, it's a must for anyone serious about the lore and legend of the fire service.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Medal of Valor Firefighters : Gripping Tales of Bravery from America's Decorated Heroes
Since September 11, 2001, the nation's firefighters have been lauded for their courage and selflessness, yet many of their tales remain untold. Medal of Valor Firefighters recounts numerous stories of grace under fire in the words of decorated heroes themselves.
The men and women in this engrossing work, who unflinchingly risked their lives against impossible odds, relate their tales with striking humility. The portraits of courage in this gripping work are fitting tributes to America's bravest.
You'll read heroic, true stories from around the nation such as:
San Francisco: Beneath a house toppled by the earthquake of 1989, firefighter Gerald Shannon uses a chainsaw to cut his way through a maze of burning rubble and volatile gas lines to rescue a trapped woman.
Brooklyn: With his faceplate melting and helmet blistering, Captain John Pritchard finds a child in a burning bedroom and grasps her plastic crib--which melts at his touch and cascades down around his arm.
Atlanta: Dangling under a helicopter on a one-inch nylon rope, firefighter Matthew Moseley performs a daring rescue of a man stranded 225 feet above a burning mill on a crane so hot it has melted the soles of his shoes.
