"If Prometheus was worthy of the wrath of heaven for kindling the first fire upon earth, how ought all the Gods to honor the men who make it their professional business to put it out?"
John Godfrey Saxe, circa 1850
"Firemen are going to be killed right along. They know it, every man of them... firefighting is a hazardous occupation; it is dangerous on the face of it, tackling a burning building. The risks are plain.... Consequently, when a man becomes a fireman, his act of bravery has already been accomplished."
FDNY Chief Edward F. Crocker 1908