John Bankhead

Somebody's Got to Do It: Making History in a Big City Fire Department John Bankhead

Ride on the back of Engine 2 one of the busiest companies in the big city. Sit in the tillerman's seat and see what the rest of the company missed as we rounded the corner. Ride on Rescue 7 with the first class of Paramedics in the City of Philadelphia. Live the life of a firefighter paramedic from the beginning to the final days on the job. See everything through the eyes of the person who lived every minute of it. Hold the hose line as the man on the tip is swept away, duck as the man next to you suffers a broken neck. Realize the role fate plays when you arrive just in time, or, when time runs out. Charge the defibrillator and press the paddles onto the unmoving chest. Breathe for the little boy whose future you fought for and won. Spend the last seconds with the young girl whose decisions caused us to meet. Take the last ride on a ladder truck as it careens toward its destruction. The stories are all there, the funny and the tragic, from the first alarm bell to the ultimate conclusion, and many backstories giving you the complete picture that most people rarely get to hear.