FIVE FLOORS UP

An affecting, fast-paced portrait of four generations of FDNY firefighters and the many dangers they have faced—some to the very end.

“William Feehan’s last moments on earth were spent helping the direct recovery effort for firefighters trapped in the Marriott hotel adjacent to the south tower.” So writes journalist McDonald, author of My Father’s Gun and Last Call at Elaine’s, who tracks the Feehan connection to firefighting in New York to a patriarch who stumbled into the job in the 1920s, mostly by virtue of being Irish and having a brother-in-law in the FDNY. He served as an ordinary firefighter for 30 years, seeking no further promotions: “William loved facing a raging fire with a nozzle in his hands and saw no reason to do anything else.” His son and namesake was of similar mind, but, as the author chronicles, he moved up the chain of command until he was a captain, a chief, then commissioner. He was the highest-ranking casualty of 9/11, the cause of death listed as homicide, “the first issued to a member of the FDNY killed in the attack.” McDonald writes with all the vividness of firefighting genre master Dennis Smith, but his story isn’t all hooks and ladders. Much of the narrative involves the complex politics of the FDNY vis-a-vis other emergency departments and the city government. In one extensive passage, McDonald describes a history of budgetary neglect that ended in the 1970s with a demoralized, understaffed department. They faced mortal danger every day, and “in return, they received little thanks from the communities they served and layoffs and pay freezes from the city. The anger was palpable.” The story continues with the achievements of Bill Feehan’s son-in-law and grandson within the FDNY, which, after 9/11, is held in much higher regard—even if the pay still isn’t adequate.

A closely observed study of ordinary heroes and the thousands more like them whose lives are always on the line.