RESCUE SQUAD: A Fire Fighter's Fascinating Account of His Dangerous Job

by Larry Ferazani

An engrossing report of an unusual firefighting unit working in the shadow of Harvard, written by a man who has a love-hate relationship with his job. More philosophical than Dennis Smith in his best seller “Report from Engine Company 82,” Ferazani would agree with Smith that firefighting is the most misunderstood and underrated job in the country. The Cambridge Rescue truck packs the usual fire gear but it is also stocked with sophisticated medical equipment. Besides answering fire alarms, it is called upon to assist victims of auto accidents drug users, attempted suicides and to quell Harvard Yard riots. The squad has freed a pregnant woman from a stalled elevator and given advice on a sick cat. Staffed by volunteers from the fire department, it takes dangerous and often repugnant tasks in its stride. Ferazani believes that such units set up on a national scale would be invaluable. While reporting his many exciting experiences he tells how the job affects his private lifeIn the middle of the night,” he writes, “I still wonder sometimes if I am doing the right thing. To reach out, to help people, to find someone on the verge of death and be able to bring him back-for me, that’s a miracle. But how often can you come face to face with the endless fact of pain and death without losing courage in life. “That his book even considers such delicate questions, aside from its documentary capacity’s a tribute to its worth as a minor sketch of Rescue Squad is a clear, gripping account about a group of extraordinary men who save lives as fireman and minister to the injured as paramedics. It is at times funny, at times sad, but always interesting and beautifully told.

228 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1974