1972: The BRONX is Burning - NYC FIREFIGHTERS | Man Alive | Classic BBC Documentaries | BBC Archive
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Jeremy James spends three weeks with the firefighters of Engine Company 82 and Ladder Company 31 - arguably the busiest firefighters in the world - as they struggle to control the staggering number of fires in New York's South Bronx district.
This clip is from Man Alive. Originally broadcast 27 September, 1972.
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The Deputy Chief talking with the Battalion Chief about the kids at 1:49 and safety at 2:56 was my father, Bernard Wynne. He joined the Department in 1938 and retired in 1973. One of my vivid memories as a kid was my father lying on his back asleep on the bed after a particularly rough night. Every time he exhaled, his breath expelled what looked like a dark cloud. An unbelievably challenging job which stays with you for all of your life!
@paulgleave5779
7 ай бұрын
Wow,I bet he had some incredible stories to tell.From this clip you could see he had the safety of his men as a priority.Huge admiration for these guys.
@elviraguadalupe6325
5 ай бұрын
🙏💝amen con cristo
@MrWolfSnack
4 ай бұрын
black lung. I hope he lived a full life. He seen so much change in the NYFD from all that time. Just 20 years before he joined they were just phasing out the horse and wagons,
1:35 there’s kids playing on the roof while they’re venting, wild.
Dennis Smith..FDNY LEGEND!!! ITS so crazy to watch those guys go into the fire and they don't even have tanks on.
The War Years Veterans....I came OTJ in 1978 and these guys taught us the job......they were cool, calm and had a lot of experience at fires. Good officers and good firemen........the backbone of the job
I'm amazed at how the kids are just allowed to be on the fire engine and chilling along side working firemen.
@trinab9612
Жыл бұрын
I don’t it’s so much they are allowed to do it, there’s just no way to stop them
@Eric-sn4qz
Жыл бұрын
Unfortunately there really wasn’t a way to stop this. There was a time during the war years that cops were on the apparatus for security because of the airmail the was being directed at the trucks. You had fireman getting hit by bricks responding to calls.
@Eric-sn4qz
Жыл бұрын
In the 1990’s there was a fire company in Upper Manhattan that had a firebomb thrown into a responding Engine company. Several brothers were severely burned.
@slackjawedyokel1
Жыл бұрын
and good chance some were inspired to become fireman themselves
@Jimtom933
8 ай бұрын
A lot different times back then
no respirators? these archival clips are so thorough. really feels like a time machine with how much they show the (few)safety standards of the time
@rick-dy7mt
Жыл бұрын
Smoke eaters
@MsGorteck
Жыл бұрын
And did you see how the firefighters were sitting on the pivot point of the tiller as it was going down the street? And the chief was complaining that the children climbing on the ladder was not safe. True Leather Lungs. Tip of the hat!
@LeopoldMaysonet
11 ай бұрын
@@rick-dy7mt Best in the business!! God Bless those guys if they're still alive! Always used my SCBA when I fought fires. (1997-2017)
@elenaarman-tang7811
9 ай бұрын
@@LeopoldMaysonetThank you for saving lives 🙏 Were you a fireman based in New York City?
@LeopoldMaysonet
5 ай бұрын
Philadelphia @@elenaarman-tang7811
RIP Dennis Smith who passed away in January 2022. Seen in this video, he wrote the famous book "Report from Engine Company 82" which came out in January 1972 which is why I suspect the BBC decided to do this documentary.
@bpd231martinko9
Жыл бұрын
He was also the publisher of Fire House Magazine....
@JB0071051982
7 ай бұрын
RIP Dennis Smith and thank you for all of your amazing books about Firefighters. My grandmother read me "The Little Fire Engine That Saved The City " as a boy and then as an adult I read "Report From Engine Co #82, Firefighters: Their Lives In Their Own Words and Report From Ground Zero. Been a firefighting buff my whole life.
@davidbehrend7054
7 ай бұрын
He was a legend. I was unaware that he had passed away. He is back from the old “smoke eater” days. I wonder what his experiences would have been like today, with all the changes in firefighting and technology.
The book written by Dennis Smith "Report From Engine Company 82" is one of my favorite books. Dennis has a plain and simple style and I'm going to be getting the others he wrote.
@thedevilwearstartan
Ай бұрын
I'm reading it now after seeing this comment! An amazing book!
The kids playing on the firetruck while they're fighting a fire was too funny 😊
Dennis Smith's famous book was the spark that flared into a fascination with fire photography. Plus Jill's book.
I worked in the 80's until 2012 in São Paulo in Brazil. These scenes are very common in our daily lives. Only in 1994 did appropriate personal protective equipment and respiratory protection arrive for all firefighters. Our vehicles were very common without much technology. We faced these situations from the vide of 1972 in the 90's still. Difficult days for the Brazilian firefighters in the city of São Paulo, the fourth metropolis in the world with 15 million inhabitants today. We are much better today with more advanced technologies and techniques. Lieutenant Castro 1984 to 2012 military firefighter
This whole documentary is amazing as it is a time capsule of the state New York was in, in the mid 70's. Try to find the full documentary as it a very good watch
Love the clear Picture. Hopefully They’ll remaster the entire Doc.
I was born in 72. It's a big difference from the fire scene then compared to now with all the regulations. It's crazy that there's kids on the roof right beside the firefighters and all over the apparatus. I heard the firefighters mention that and the NYPD said it was the firefighters problem. My uncle worked with the NYPD during that time. I'm sure today's fire scene would seem alien to him. That whole area would've been blocked off nowadays.
@wandaritter5704
9 ай бұрын
We were allowed on the roofs and fire escapes gurl! No regulations!
Firefighters were awesome and hardcore back then. Literally, all they wore was a helmet, rain slicker coat, and hip high folded boots. An oldschool Chicago firefighter told me that he never had his ears covered with a protective hood like they wear today because that was his way of telling if it was too hot. If his ears started burning and he couldn't take it anymore, that's when he knew it was time to pull him and his men out of the building, lol.
Thank You
It's pretty cool to see some of the men and the scenes from Dennis Smith's book.
@emt5330
9 ай бұрын
Buy the book " They Saved New York". Several of them are interviewed
Amazing accent I can really hear the English influences
@aidy6000
2 жыл бұрын
yes. a lot of old or rural accents in the us are like a window into 18th century pronunciation!!
@user-op7uc6jb9k
3 ай бұрын
Yea, east Coast US cities are heavily influenced by English accents especially NYC and Boston
The siren model on the fire engines Is known as the Federal Signal model 28
@owensweetland342
Жыл бұрын
Yup. Can't use the Q nowadays. Noise pollution. What a effin joke. Look around at the actual pollution.
When in London during Christmas years ago, I decided to make a surprise Christmas visit and spread yuletide cheer and brotherly love to the Fire Brigade boys
Dennis Smith, author of "Report from Engine Co. 82" and "The Final Fire".
I lived up there during this time frame, I remember coming from Jersey over the GWB & remembering all the building boarded up, stolen cars on the CBX & Webster Ave, was like a war zone, felt really sorry for naive folks that broke down in that area, was a jungle baby.
The south Bronx is worse today then back in the 70s, if you can believe it….
Battalion 27 is now with Engine 79 and Ladder 37 in Bedford Park and no longer with Engine 82 and Ladder 31
God Bless The Fdny Putting their lives on the Line as heroes
Great film
I started in my department in 1987 I remember those days on long Island...🚒 and the city
Fantastic documentary. I can't even imagine how wild it must have been back in the day. I know that firefighting is still wild now! I work in concrete and masonry, non-union, so extra special... I think that my job is hard, and then I watch these videos. I do wish that respirators were used back then.
Do you have the full remastered version of this 1972 documentary? I await your reply.
@IllinoisDemocraticParty
Жыл бұрын
You still waiting for that reply 😂
@benfrewin9926
Жыл бұрын
How's that wait going for you?
@CedrickTudge
7 ай бұрын
A weighty wait
@stevej7763
4 ай бұрын
kzread.info/dash/bejne/dpdnw5SLj7y_qbg.htmlsi=8dMZJcJw_vINZJ_Z
This is cool, I've seen this video before but not such good quality.
Is there a website where I can contact someone about licensing enquiries?
This was around the same time New York had the highest murder rate on this planet. You can understand from this short recording it wasn’t a pleasant place to be back then, although very interesting to watch.
FDNY 1970s Mack CF Engine Pumper And 1970s Amercain Lafrance Ladder Company feature in this video.
Love their accents
@HelloooThere
Жыл бұрын
And sideburns!
Tiller ladder 31 , just before they got asigned the tower ladder en nov..72
Anybody else getting major BackDraft vibes from these scenes????
A lot has changed.
See how candid the Firefighters were back then?
@Stargazzer811
8 ай бұрын
We're still candid, just professionally so.
my dad was on like engine 83 or 84 or 82 les Goldberg
Das bawd
anyone know if this was during or after Dennis wrote his book?
@johnhill4964
Жыл бұрын
This video was from '72, same year the book was published.
make a series about this issue then
They should've interviewed KRS-ONE for his philosophy on this situation. "what where why or when"
I was born in Manhattan in 1972. My childhood in this video.
I can't believe that these guys didn't have respirators or anything else to help them breathe in the smoke.
check out the sideburns
@owensweetland342
Жыл бұрын
I know. I laughed at them chops.
@azul8811
Жыл бұрын
In 51 years from now, it’s likely that people will be laughing at those in our current society who are all “tatted-up.” Seeing young beautiful women with a sleeve of tattoos might puzzle them.
These were some brave mofos God bless these brave, tough ass bros! Now they are older or even gone, and I love hearing that NY accent! Slumlords would set their bldgs on fire for insurance money! I wonder if they were ever prosecuted!😢❤
4:15
Did I see civilians on the roof?
Is L31 American Lafrance?
@emt5330
Жыл бұрын
Yes
@crusinclassicslucas6218
Жыл бұрын
And engine 82 is a Mack CF
@owensweetland342
Жыл бұрын
A late 1960s ALF.
Cancer was not an issue then😭🙏🙏🙏🙏
@phangirlable
Жыл бұрын
What? I know people who had cancer in the 70s. You know the explorer Alexander von Humboldt? Is mother died from breast cancer in the late 18th century. I collect books from the 19th century and even back then there were campaigns against smoking because it was cancerous. But if you mean not an issue then as in people died "from old age" which was actually colon, prostate or other common cancer then yes, not an issue back then.
So entertaining how that particular fire department had no blacks but managed to capture one climbing a ladder after the cameraman went first. This was not a real fire as it appeared to be thats why parents send their young one to see what's going on. Ironically no one had a "bronx accent".
Look like they didn't care about they safety
Good god, no BA at all?? Not even the UK Fire Brigades of the same era were that reckless..
I wonder why there was so many murders and fires
@stephenowens3687
2 жыл бұрын
I read that the slumblords would pay gangs to set these places on fire, for the insurance money.
@davidpurpleartist8125
Жыл бұрын
I've seen a documentary about the Bronx being burned that the landlords would just collect the rent and go and let the buildings be derelict and the tenents to fill the boilers and fend for themselves. Also gangs and the landlords would also pay the gangs to set fires for an insurance payout.
@MR1977.
Жыл бұрын
@@davidpurpleartist8125 that slumlord arson for hire operation was known as Jewish lighting.
…And they all died of respiratory diseases.
@AWM05
Жыл бұрын
Except for the MPO of course.
Back in the days when firemen weren't just part time strippers moonlighting as firemen.
My father was a ff.in.ladder.38.eng.88
Salute FDNY 🫡 saving lives and always working hard. ❤