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WILLIAM FEEHAN: In any given year the New York City Fire Department responds to more working fires than the fire departments of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia combined.

The whole department exists for one reason: the whole department exists simply to serve the people of the city. And I know everybody hears those kinds of things and it sounds pretty corny, it sounds a little of hackneyed, perhaps, but that's the reason this department exists. Now, the thing that sets the firefighter apart is that it's he or she who, when the bell sounds, has to go and be ready at any moment to go in harm's way and to do whatever is necessary to help the person who called them.

My father came into the department in 1926, I think, and I was born in '29. My father retired before I came into the department. I came into the department in '59. He retired in '58.

There is a -- maybe not a firehouse culture, but a fire-department culture, and it's a very special culture. When you have a department whose men and women are expected to be ready at any moment to put their life on the line, to go to the aid of a stranger, even when it means that you may put yourself in dire peril, I don't think you can pay people to do that job. There has to be something beyond money that makes them do that.

This department is rich in tradition. It's rich in history. We have a memorial day, where we go up to the firemen's monument on 100th Street, and we honor all those firefighters who died in the last year, either in the line of duty or from natural causes. But we have this every single year. You know, we've had 127 years of paid fire department in New York City, and in that 127 years, we have lost 752 people. That's an awfully large number. And I don't think that anybody who understands this business and understands this department -- I mean, we all have the same wish: that that's the last, that there'll never be another. But I know, I know as sure as I'm sitting here, that no matter what we do, no matter how well we train, no matter how good our equipment is, no matter how hard we try, no matter -- no matter what, there'll be a 753rd.

Producer: David Miller / Executive Producer: David Isay / Music: "Ashokan Farewell" by Jay Ungar / Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. "William Feehan, Fire Chief" is a co-production with City Lore.

"William Feehan, Fire Chief" premiered September 15, 2001, on Weekend Edition Saturday. Copyright © 2001 Sound Portraits Productions. All Rights Reserved.

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		William Feehan's obituary in the New York Times [registration required]

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