Chiefs: Their Most Memorable Fires

Collins, who teaches writing and theater arts in Boston, has interviewed 20 fire chiefs and deputy chiefs in mostly American cities ranging from Orlando to Seattle, Montreal to Los Angeles. Most discuss the fiercest conflagrations of their careers, while also offering observations on administrative problems at the firehouse (budget cuts, personnel reductions), and advances in equipment and fire- fighting techniques. The most memorable accounts in an otherwise inconsequential book are those of Chicago in the wake of Martin Luther King's assassination, when rioters seemed bent on burning down the cityand firefighters were viewed as political enemiesand of Los Angeles following an airplane crash and the loss of 90 lives in a residential area, necessitating psychological counseling for fighters stunned by the horrors they encountered. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)