1972: The BRONX is Burning - NYC FIREFIGHTERS | Man Alive | Classic BBC Documentaries | BBC Archive

Ойын-сауық

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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Пікірлер: 112

  • @Mllghguard
    @Mllghguard7 ай бұрын

    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

    @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

    @elviraguadalupe6325

    5 ай бұрын

    🙏💝amen con cristo

  • @MrWolfSnack

    @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,

  • @stevej7763
    @stevej77634 ай бұрын

    1:35 there’s kids playing on the roof while they’re venting, wild.

  • @johnomahony7364
    @johnomahony7364 Жыл бұрын

    Dennis Smith..FDNY LEGEND!!! ITS so crazy to watch those guys go into the fire and they don't even have tanks on.

  • @280StJohnsPl
    @280StJohnsPl Жыл бұрын

    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

  • @BodymechanicsUK
    @BodymechanicsUK2 жыл бұрын

    I'm amazed at how the kids are just allowed to be on the fire engine and chilling along side working firemen.

  • @trinab9612

    @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

    @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

    @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

    @slackjawedyokel1

    Жыл бұрын

    and good chance some were inspired to become fireman themselves

  • @Jimtom933

    @Jimtom933

    8 ай бұрын

    A lot different times back then

  • @marcel1372
    @marcel13722 жыл бұрын

    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

    @rick-dy7mt

    Жыл бұрын

    Smoke eaters

  • @MsGorteck

    @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

    @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

    @elenaarman-tang7811

    9 ай бұрын

    ​@@LeopoldMaysonetThank you for saving lives 🙏 Were you a fireman based in New York City?

  • @LeopoldMaysonet

    @LeopoldMaysonet

    5 ай бұрын

    Philadelphia @@elenaarman-tang7811

  • @joed9491
    @joed9491 Жыл бұрын

    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

    @bpd231martinko9

    Жыл бұрын

    He was also the publisher of Fire House Magazine....

  • @JB0071051982

    @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

    @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.

  • @Cashcrop54
    @Cashcrop542 ай бұрын

    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

    @thedevilwearstartan

    Ай бұрын

    I'm reading it now after seeing this comment! An amazing book!

  • @luv2luv720
    @luv2luv72011 ай бұрын

    The kids playing on the firetruck while they're fighting a fire was too funny 😊

  • @owensweetland342
    @owensweetland342 Жыл бұрын

    Dennis Smith's famous book was the spark that flared into a fascination with fire photography. Plus Jill's book.

  • @tecnicodeprevencaoecombate5407
    @tecnicodeprevencaoecombate5407 Жыл бұрын

    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

  • @thunderbird66613
    @thunderbird666132 жыл бұрын

    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

  • @Eric-sn4qz
    @Eric-sn4qz Жыл бұрын

    Love the clear Picture. Hopefully They’ll remaster the entire Doc.

  • @matthewnorman7878
    @matthewnorman7878 Жыл бұрын

    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

    @wandaritter5704

    9 ай бұрын

    We were allowed on the roofs and fire escapes gurl! No regulations!

  • @eldiablo3794
    @eldiablo379413 сағат бұрын

    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.

  • @albertnevaras3465
    @albertnevaras3465 Жыл бұрын

    Thank You

  • @elmcityslim
    @elmcityslim Жыл бұрын

    It's pretty cool to see some of the men and the scenes from Dennis Smith's book.

  • @emt5330

    @emt5330

    9 ай бұрын

    Buy the book " They Saved New York". Several of them are interviewed

  • @louisep4805
    @louisep48052 жыл бұрын

    Amazing accent I can really hear the English influences

  • @aidy6000

    @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

    @user-op7uc6jb9k

    3 ай бұрын

    Yea, east Coast US cities are heavily influenced by English accents especially NYC and Boston

  • @crusinclassicslucas6218
    @crusinclassicslucas6218 Жыл бұрын

    The siren model on the fire engines Is known as the Federal Signal model 28

  • @owensweetland342

    @owensweetland342

    Жыл бұрын

    Yup. Can't use the Q nowadays. Noise pollution. What a effin joke. Look around at the actual pollution.

  • @scottprendergast5262
    @scottprendergast526210 ай бұрын

    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

  • @ronaldrobertson2332
    @ronaldrobertson233223 күн бұрын

    Dennis Smith, author of "Report from Engine Co. 82" and "The Final Fire".

  • @kenb.8596
    @kenb.859610 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @reidbiden6712
    @reidbiden67129 ай бұрын

    The south Bronx is worse today then back in the 70s, if you can believe it….

  • @fdny3526
    @fdny3526 Жыл бұрын

    Battalion 27 is now with Engine 79 and Ladder 37 in Bedford Park and no longer with Engine 82 and Ladder 31

  • @sportscardsunlimited4754
    @sportscardsunlimited4754 Жыл бұрын

    God Bless The Fdny Putting their lives on the Line as heroes

  • @sheldonhchambliss1385
    @sheldonhchambliss1385Ай бұрын

    Great film

  • @lawrencemazel9182
    @lawrencemazel9182 Жыл бұрын

    I started in my department in 1987 I remember those days on long Island...🚒 and the city

  • @kas9653
    @kas96535 ай бұрын

    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.

  • @matthewbulger5876
    @matthewbulger5876 Жыл бұрын

    Do you have the full remastered version of this 1972 documentary? I await your reply.

  • @IllinoisDemocraticParty

    @IllinoisDemocraticParty

    Жыл бұрын

    You still waiting for that reply 😂

  • @benfrewin9926

    @benfrewin9926

    Жыл бұрын

    How's that wait going for you?

  • @CedrickTudge

    @CedrickTudge

    7 ай бұрын

    A weighty wait

  • @stevej7763

    @stevej7763

    4 ай бұрын

    kzread.info/dash/bejne/dpdnw5SLj7y_qbg.htmlsi=8dMZJcJw_vINZJ_Z

  • @remigirl996
    @remigirl996 Жыл бұрын

    This is cool, I've seen this video before but not such good quality.

  • @bennymashfilms
    @bennymashfilms Жыл бұрын

    Is there a website where I can contact someone about licensing enquiries?

  • @swaneknoctic9555
    @swaneknoctic95552 жыл бұрын

    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.

  • @firefighterfan2010
    @firefighterfan201010 ай бұрын

    FDNY 1970s Mack CF Engine Pumper And 1970s Amercain Lafrance Ladder Company feature in this video.

  • @jemmajones6013
    @jemmajones6013 Жыл бұрын

    Love their accents

  • @HelloooThere

    @HelloooThere

    Жыл бұрын

    And sideburns!

  • @urbantraxx3756
    @urbantraxx3756 Жыл бұрын

    Tiller ladder 31 , just before they got asigned the tower ladder en nov..72

  • @KILLSVVITCH
    @KILLSVVITCH Жыл бұрын

    Anybody else getting major BackDraft vibes from these scenes????

  • @glenncaraballoso1470
    @glenncaraballoso1470 Жыл бұрын

    A lot has changed.

  • @robertafierro5592
    @robertafierro5592 Жыл бұрын

    See how candid the Firefighters were back then?

  • @Stargazzer811

    @Stargazzer811

    8 ай бұрын

    We're still candid, just professionally so.

  • @nooyorcste
    @nooyorcste5 ай бұрын

    my dad was on like engine 83 or 84 or 82 les Goldberg

  • @bottleandscrap7626
    @bottleandscrap76265 ай бұрын

    Das bawd

  • @Thatweirduncle
    @Thatweirduncle Жыл бұрын

    anyone know if this was during or after Dennis wrote his book?

  • @johnhill4964

    @johnhill4964

    Жыл бұрын

    This video was from '72, same year the book was published.

  • @SirJohnKnight
    @SirJohnKnight3 ай бұрын

    make a series about this issue then

  • @Kylefassbinderful
    @Kylefassbinderful2 жыл бұрын

    They should've interviewed KRS-ONE for his philosophy on this situation. "what where why or when"

  • @robertsontirado4478
    @robertsontirado4478 Жыл бұрын

    I was born in Manhattan in 1972. My childhood in this video.

  • @libertycabbagemusic
    @libertycabbagemusic Жыл бұрын

    I can't believe that these guys didn't have respirators or anything else to help them breathe in the smoke.

  • @slackjawedyokel1
    @slackjawedyokel1 Жыл бұрын

    check out the sideburns

  • @owensweetland342

    @owensweetland342

    Жыл бұрын

    I know. I laughed at them chops.

  • @azul8811

    @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.

  • @wandaritter5704
    @wandaritter57049 ай бұрын

    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!😢❤

  • @BURNINGRYZEN112
    @BURNINGRYZEN1124 ай бұрын

    4:15

  • @Upstatefire15
    @Upstatefire153 ай бұрын

    Did I see civilians on the roof?

  • @TheBalls55
    @TheBalls55 Жыл бұрын

    Is L31 American Lafrance?

  • @emt5330

    @emt5330

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes

  • @crusinclassicslucas6218

    @crusinclassicslucas6218

    Жыл бұрын

    And engine 82 is a Mack CF

  • @owensweetland342

    @owensweetland342

    Жыл бұрын

    A late 1960s ALF.

  • @johankindberg7967
    @johankindberg7967 Жыл бұрын

    Cancer was not an issue then😭🙏🙏🙏🙏

  • @phangirlable

    @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.

  • @SpadesWinner
    @SpadesWinner6 ай бұрын

    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".

  • @sheldonhchambliss1385
    @sheldonhchambliss1385Ай бұрын

    Look like they didn't care about they safety

  • @xaviert.123
    @xaviert.123 Жыл бұрын

    Good god, no BA at all?? Not even the UK Fire Brigades of the same era were that reckless..

  • @noka1979
    @noka19792 жыл бұрын

    I wonder why there was so many murders and fires

  • @stephenowens3687

    @stephenowens3687

    2 жыл бұрын

    I read that the slumblords would pay gangs to set these places on fire, for the insurance money.

  • @davidpurpleartist8125

    @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.

    @MR1977.

    Жыл бұрын

    @@davidpurpleartist8125 that slumlord arson for hire operation was known as Jewish lighting.

  • @colshythecomedian
    @colshythecomedian2 жыл бұрын

    …And they all died of respiratory diseases.

  • @AWM05

    @AWM05

    Жыл бұрын

    Except for the MPO of course.

  • @johnny5805
    @johnny58052 жыл бұрын

    Back in the days when firemen weren't just part time strippers moonlighting as firemen.

  • @miketritsas1050
    @miketritsas1050 Жыл бұрын

    My father was a ff.in.ladder.38.eng.88

  • @j.g.007
    @j.g.0079 ай бұрын

    Salute FDNY 🫡 saving lives and always working hard. ❤

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