Steely Blue

by Dennis Smith

Two best friends, Steely Burns and Jack Haggerty, grow up to find their respective lives as firemen very different

Hardcover

Published January 28, 1994

About the author

During his 18 years as a New York City firefighter, Dennis Smith developed a profound respect for the professionalism of the firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and nurses with whom he worked in the more than 40 alarms his engine company responded to every day. He witnessed their willingness to give of themselves in the course of their duty. His experiences in the fire service have been immortalized in his books, most notably "Report from Engine Co. 82," which became an immediate New York Times bestseller, sold 3 million copies, and was translated into 13 languages.

In 2001, Dennis responded to the attack on the World Trade Center, arriving there just as the second building fell. He stayed for 57 consecutive days, first in rescue work and then in recovery. The following year, he wrote “Report from Ground Zero,” which also rose to the top of the bestseller lists.

Dennis has spent half of his life in the emergency service and the other half writing books. His experience and reputation make him powerfully and uniquely able to represent the interests and needs of emergency professionals and departments. His career as firefighter, best-selling author, magazine publisher, business leader, and director of important youth service and emergency-service not-for-profit organizations provides him with a sound point of view about what is needed to make the world better and more connected.

Dennis Smith most recently founded an international social media website: www.wavepeg.com.

Reviews

[Angie Fehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steely Byrnes and Jack Haggerty are best friends who grow up together in Manhattan's East Side, both dreaming of one day joining FDNY fire dept. This dream ultimately comes true but workplace dramas will definitely test the long standing friendship.

Chief Haggerty, aka "Johnnie Gimme" (the fastest to rise to captain in dept. history) is now on his way to trying to become Fire Commissioner, while Steely is basically still working "grunt" level. Haggerty seems to have the perfect life --- he's personable, good home life, never swears, while Haggerty still notices women, he's never disrespectful about it -- while Steely is separated from his wife and kids, has a drinking problem and bed hops like crazy (even though at one point Steely admits he was surprised his wife would even consider divorce?!). Though his ex Maryanne's conversations with him can sometimes border on verbally abusive, Steely believes she deserves the happiness she craves. He admits she's got a good heart, she's full of love, she's committed to her family, and that he should've listened more to her interests and concerns but he was seeing it as her being overly needy of attention and affection. But here he is also still inviting her to fire department functions from time to time.

All hell breaks loose when a female firefighter, Kathy Angelli, is hired onto the department. Some argued she was too feminine to succeed in this line of work. On one call involving a roof ventilation point gone wrong, her actions end up getting another firefighter killed. Those who didn't like her hired on in the first place see this as the opportunity to get her off the crew now. Kathy starts up a relationship with Steely, which puts a bigger rift between him and Jack.

There's also uber-religious crew member "Red" Hadley, who gets out of cleaning duty around the station by claiming he needs to pray, but Red is married to a woman who seems to ooze sex, leaving Steely feeling extra confused and conflicted.

Jack is frustrated with frequently having to bail Steely out of bad situations, but because they grew up together Jack feels this unshakeable loyalty to him.

I didn't love Steely as a character. A good chunk of what comes out of his mouth is either racist or sexist or just generally problematically worded. While he doesn't mind sleeping with Kathy, he likens female hires to the 1930s-40s when black firefighters had to be given separate accommodations in the station. When one woman he's interested in doesn't seem to return his advances, he refers to her as "Bittercrotch" (in his mind). When he's not loose with the racial slurs, he's saying stuff like "I want the locker clean and the pipes blown" or "I put 5 big ones between ivories to shut someone up" (the cringe of this just had me cracking up because it just had me thinking of cheezy gangster movies from the 40s). Here and there there are scenes that are mildly sexually explicit.

A few points that honestly had me cracking up were 1) the line about "I gestured a need and you made love like a fireman on the way to an alarm." and 2) the fight scene between the female and male firefighters reminded me of the "women don't belong in the newsroom!" bit from the Anchorman movie 😄

I don't know, the plot just overall felt kind of messy. There's a little bit of Rescue Me, a little bit of GI Jane... naturally a big ol cover up high up in the FD is suggested... and frequently things point back to the idea that it can't be you against them, everyone on a crew naturally has to work as a team, figure things out as a team... but yeah, just messy, FD soap opera for me... and as someone who has lived this life for a time (as a former fire wife), it's not entirely unrealistic to how things actually are 😅 (which makes sense, considering author Dennis Smith is a former FDNY firefighter himself).

[Sandy Pfefferkorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book for a number of years and only recently found it again when I was going through my collection and getting rid of books I'd read and didn't plan to read again. If you enjoy "Chicago Fire" on TV, I think you'd like Steely Blue.

[Anthony Bracciante · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read several of Dennis Smith's books previously and have thoroughly enjoyed them. This does not seem up to his usual standards and I did not enjoy it as much as The Final Fire.

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

cant recall it