Crucible of Fire: Nineteenth-Century Urban Fires and the Making of the Modern Fire Service Hardcover – June 1, 2011

Interesting stories about the birth of fire protection and how it particularly evolved in America in spite of cultural resistance. The narrative is a bit repetitive at points but in the end, it’s a fascinating tale of how a few stakeholders and a slew of destructive fires dragged the fire service into the 21st century.

I was a little disappointed by the book, but, as a firefighter myself, I am probably judging it too harshly. There are so few books available that explain how the US fire service grew and changed I guess my expectations were too high. I don't want this to sound arrogant or self aggrandizing, but I have been reading everything I can find about firefighting over my 20 year career, so I am probably a bit more knowledgeable on the subject than the average reader.The contrast with the way firefighting is done in the US vs Europe was interesting, and I appreciated the authors emphasis on fire prevention. The most interesting parts to me were the explanations of the origins of the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). These agencies drive fire protection policy and methods to a significant degree, and their origins explain a great deal about how and why they operate the way they do. I will recommend the book to some of my coworkers just for that reason.The author covered a lot of information, but I thought it was repetitive and a bit disorganized. It is possible that much of what I found repetitive may be useful to people who are not firefighters, so take that with a grain of salt.I started this review at 3 stars, upped it to 4 as I realized that I may have been holding the book to too high a standard. If you are a new firefighter or just interested in the history of firefighting in the US, this is a good primer.

This book is really more a critique of contemporary fire fighting techniques than the survey of 19th century fires I was expecting from the subtitle. It skids around quite a bit and could have a used a bit more organization, which might have made some of the author's points more compelling. Still, I learned a good deal from the book. Nice section of photographs.

Bruce presented. a lot of well resealed material

Good content but excessive use of the term Fireman. Seriously, this book was published in 2011 and there is absolutely no reason that the term firefighter could not have been used. Terms matter, and the author bounces back and forth between fireman and firefighter excessively even in the same paragraphs.

This is a great book about the history of fire departments. I found it very informative

My History of the fire service class is currently using this as a textbook, barnes and nobles sells this for 28 bucks, college bookstore was selling it for 30, and I got this for 5.Very good read, very informational and interesting, I would totally recommended this book.

Really a great read .A lot of interesting information. Very readable and interesting. I would recommend it to any people interested in the evolution of fire protection.