****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
In his prologue, Jimmy Allen warns the reader that his stories will 'jump around a lot' because that's what firefighting is like. Well, the first part of the book certainly does this, moving from one incident to the next with few real links. Each event takes from half a page to a couple of sides so there isn't always much detail. I could cope with this but so many of the incidents involve people dying or being horribly injured. I appreciate that in firefighting there will be deaths and injuries, but I was waiting for a bit more balance- some humour, perhaps, or something uplifting. It never really happened, although I did enjoy the book more as I got further in. It isn't entirely devoid of lighter stories- there just aren't many of them.If you want an idea of the hardships of a Canadian firefighter's life in the days before they had decent equipment, then read this.In the heat of the fire is an Excellent book! Tells the story of firefighting in a straight forward way and touches the heart.
