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August
8, 2002, 9:00 a.m.
Toward
the Flames
Who answers
the call?
By Frederick
R. Lynch
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 hough
sex roles are changing, one politically incorrect constant across the
generations is that most little boys remain fascinated with the role of
the fireman. Most abandon fire hats and toy trucks and find their way
into other occupations; but, for a chosen few, firefighting becomes a
religious "calling." Since 343 firemen perished in New York
City on September 11, the nation's fascination with firefighters has been
renewed. Behind the mystique, however, are compelling questions: Who are
these guys? (And they are overwhelmingly guys.) What motivates them to
risk gruesome death or injury to save strangers and their property?
NBC Dateline probed
the firefighter persona in a summer documentary television series titled
"Firehouse," but it wasn't as illuminating and honest as David
Halberstam's slim new best-selling book by the same name. Halberstam
provides a remarkably perceptive study, a collective profile of the 13
men of Manhattan firehouse Engine 40, Ladder 35, twelve of whom perished
on the morning of September 11. He reveals the strong interplay of tradition,
history, generational bonds, and honor pulsing through the entire FDNY,
as if it were a vast extended family.
This FDNY family remains rooted
in a core culture that is overwhelmingly male and heavily Catholic —
especially Irish Catholic. Men from such families are seemingly predestined
or "called" to the profession. "It is almost as if there
is a certain DNA strand found in firefighting families," writes Halberstam,
"where the men are pulled toward the job because their fathers and
uncles were firemen and had loved it, and because some of their happiest
moments when they were boys had come when they visited the firehouse and
these big, gruff men made a fuss over them. The job and the mission and
sense of purpose that go with it have always been quietly blended into
the family fabric."
A quiet, strong masculinity
infuses firehouse culture. Macho bravado, however, tends to be muted by
the tacit background recognition of possible, sudden fiery death or injury.
Hence, the sense of solace and purpose provided by Catholicism or some
form of general religiosity. "We all have our daily conversation
with God," says one firefighter.
Firefighter subculture harbors
several paradoxes. The same strong cultural codes and social cohesion
that sustain New York and other firefighters through danger, injury, and
death can also compound the sense of loss. The duration, intensity, and
frequency of interaction involved in the communal firehouse living can
be so profound that death brings not just
the loss of a coworker or even friend but a kinsman-a family member.
Firefighter camaraderie can
also generate contempt towards outsiders — especially "meddling"
authority figures (or "suits"). More troubling legally is intentional
or unintentional exclusion of women and minorities. Indeed, prior to 9/11,
vocal resistance to affirmative-action mandates got firefighters in New
York and elsewhere labeled by media and government elites as decidedly
unheroic, reactionary, "angry white males."
Books like Halberstam's illustrate
the complex issues in firefighter diversity debates by documenting the
sociological "pipeline," the traditional, religious, and family
factors that make certain young men yearn to become firefighters. While
unusually strong, such pipelines aren't unknown. Indeed, sociologists
are fascinated as to why — throughout the world — different
ethic and cultural groups are "drawn" to certain occupations
and not to others.
Tampering with deeply rooted
personnel pipelines can be counterproductive. External ethnic or gender
engineering sows doubt and potential conflict in a collective enterprise
that demands absolute trust and compatibility. On the other hand, Halberstam's
small-scale study reflects a more natural, demographically driven diversity
evolving among firefighters — an "inclusive" reality also
painfully evident in the pictures of all of the 343 dead FDNY firefighters.
—
Frederick R. Lynch is a government professor at Claremont McKenna College
and author of The Diversity Machine.
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