{"id":95,"date":"2012-06-08T03:19:38","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T03:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/65.110.86.41\/2\/?p=95"},"modified":"2017-02-04T16:42:31","modified_gmt":"2017-02-04T23:42:31","slug":"the-reds-vs-the-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=95","title":{"rendered":"FIRST DEGREE BURN: Reds vs. Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"FIRST%20DEGREE%20BURN%3A%20Reds%20vs.%20Blues\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/First-Degree-Cover-Prologue1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-10226\" title=\"First Degree Cover Prologue\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/First-Degree-Cover-Prologue1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"518\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/First-Degree-Cover-Prologue1.png 575w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/First-Degree-Cover-Prologue1-300x220.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px\" \/><\/a><a title=\"amazon hardcover link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/First-Degree-Burn-Peter-Lance\/dp\/0996285504\/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1460054082&amp;sr=8-1\">ORDER NEW HARDCOVER<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>THE REDS VS. THE BLUES\u00a0<\/strong>The rivalry between the NYPD and the FDNY ran broad \u2028and ran deep. Historically both departments were manned from \u2028the Irish enclaves, filled with the progeny of immigrants \u2028from Kerry, Mayo and Cork. But as in all tribes, there was a pecking order and among New York cops it was commonly \u2028held that &#8220;the Blues got the best and the Reds got the rest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If you were Italian and you came up in the city, you \u2028had several options: become a cop, become a priest or \u2028&#8221;get made.&#8221; But when it came to public service, there was \u2028only one choice for the working-class Mick: you wore a gun \u2028and chased predicate felons or you screamed through the \u2028streets in an American LaFrance and chased fires.<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-04-at-3.25.52-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10220\" title=\"Screen Shot 2017-02-04 at 3.25.52 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-02-04-at-3.25.52-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"165\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Somewhere along the line, the fiction developed \u2028that cops led a more dangerous life.\u00a0 God knows enough of \u2028them went down in the line. It seemed like every week \u2028there was another video picture of blue men in sad rows \u2028at a grave site. \u2028But the truth was that the life expectancy in a \u2028ghetto engine company was far shorter. Inner city \u2028firefighters put their stones on the line ten times a \u2028day in the &#8220;hot&#8221; seasons. They got blown out of windows, \u2028suffocated by toxins, crushed to death under floor joists and drenched in burning in flammables with such \u2028regularity that death had become a routine and the \u2028funerals almost never drew air time.<\/p>\n<p>They were rewarded \u2028for their heroism by having their hoses slashed with machetes or trashcans of burning swill thrown at their \u2028trucks, and more than a few men had been shot off their \u2028ladders by snipers angry that any representative of \u2028&#8221;the man&#8221; would venture into &#8220;the hood.&#8221; \u2028The myth was that they spent their days shining \u2028fire poles and watching soap operas. But fire fighting was a dangerous life and emotions ran deep in these men who resented the attention cops got.<\/p>\n<p>You see, unlike their\u2028 uniformed brothers, firefighters had none of the \u2028opportunities for &#8220;private advancement.&#8221; Except for a \u2028few inspectors, the rank and file in a ladder company \u2028had no chance for a bribe. The unmentioned &#8220;pad&#8221; didn&#8217;t \u2028exist for these men. So in their minds, they took all \u2028the risks with few of the residual &#8220;benefits.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Though their base pay, health and pensions were\u2028 comparable, the men of the New York Police Department\u2028 seemed to always come first in the hierarchy.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2028 Police Academy often took the first sons.\u2028 The cops always marched first past St. Patrick&#8217;s on \u2028March 17th. And many an Emerald Society communion \u2028breakfast ended in fist fights as the men of the FDNY \u2028sought to correct this disparity.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/NYPD-logo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-97\" title=\"NYPD logo\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/NYPD-logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"162\" height=\"196\" \/><\/a>There was a notorious incident in &#8217;78 captured with a\u2028 front page \u00a0Daily News headline that read: \u2028&#8221;Battle of The Badges.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rumors had been floating that the NYPD&#8217;s Emergency Services Unit was about to take over all rescue work, \u2028a large part of which was handled by the FDNY&#8217;s elite \u2028Rescue companies. On this particular day, there was an \u2028&#8221;entrapment&#8221; in Brooklyn, meaning a motorist had been \u2028pinned in his car after a crash.<\/p>\n<p>The FDNY&#8217;s 105 Truck \u2028responded and immediately deployed a Hurst Tool \u2028(&#8220;the jaws of life&#8221;) to cut out the poor man before \u2028he bled to death.\u2028 Suddenly an ESU unit pulled up and an argument\u2028 broke out over who was going to save the guy first.\u2028 Well, one thing led to another and one of the\u2028 firefighters knocked a uniformed cop to the ground.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues radioed their Precinct and were ordered to \u2028withdraw. The motorist was freed. Finally,\u2028 105 Truck &#8220;took up&#8221; as the Reds call it\u2028 when they leave a scene.\u2028 Then, on the way back to the firehouse, a pair \u2028of police radio patrol units literally cut the truck off.<\/p>\n<p>Two sets of uniforms jumped out. They pulled the \u2028firefighter who&#8217;d thrown the punch off the rig. He\u2028 ended up &#8220;back-cuffed&#8221; under his Cairns helmet with \u2028his turnout coat and boots on.<\/p>\n<p>There was simply no love lost between these men.<\/p>\n<p>And so it was, that when the unmarked\u2028 Chevy pulled up outside the crime scene\u2028 on Prince Street, the driver was prepared for a fight. \u2028<strong>Eddie Burke<\/strong> looked for all the world like a cop.\u2028 He dressed like a middle-grade detective in the same \u2028single breasted wool worsted: $155 off the rack at Sy Syms.<\/p>\n<p>He carried a Smith &amp; Wesson .38 in a Pachmyer \u2028holster at the small of his back. There was even a badge \u2028in his wallet and clipped to the roof of the Chevy with a\u2028 magnet was the same blinking red Mars light, known to \u2028cops as the &#8220;Kojak bubble.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He had the same face: the\u2028 ruddy complexion from Bantry Bay; the cobalt blue eyes\u2028 and the same killer smile you see in many early\u2028 30&#8217;s Irish-Americans before the drink kills their will. \u2028In fact, the only thing about him that would set him \u2028apart from a precinct detective was his shoes.<\/p>\n<p>There was a standing joke in The Bureau of \u2028Fire Investigation that the one sure way to tell \u2028a Fire Marshal from a cop was by looking down at \u2028his feet. The Marshal was the one with the &#8220;dirty shoes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Eddie Burke was FDNY. And even though he&#8217;d come\u2028 from a family of Blues, even though his old man had \u2028been a legend in the NYPD, he knew that he was \u2028not welcome here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"FIRST%20DEGREE%20BURN%3A%20Reds%20vs.%20Blues\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>ORDER NEW HARDCOVER\u00a0 THE REDS VS. THE BLUES\u00a0The rivalry between the NYPD and the FDNY ran broad \u2028and ran deep. Historically both departments were manned from \u2028the Irish enclaves, filled with the progeny of immigrants \u2028from Kerry, Mayo and Cork. But as in all tribes, there was a pecking order and among New York cops [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[144,122,282,295,788,284,804,256,286,790,254,259,255,795,281,1212,288,792,793,798,803,263,800,293,802,280,794,289,789,285,126,294,291,287,403,791,253,796,292,805,290,797,799,801,283],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10227,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/10227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}