Heat: Fire C.S.I. and the War on Arson and Murder

by Peter A. Micheels, Clint Willis (Editor)

The little-known life of a fire marshal is part police detection and part forensic investigation. The vivid accounts in Heat take readers to the scenes of our most horrifying mob burnouts, lives destroyed by insurance torchings, grisly arson murders committed out of jealousy or revenge. Fire marshals carry nothing but years of experience battling the flames, a badge, and a gun to their job. Here are their most unforgettable the suspicious blazes, the weird breaks, the manhunts, the dramatic shootouts, and the ultimate moment when disaster is averted or a child’s life is saved. In this grippingly authentic oral history, the fire marshals speak movingly about those they have arrested and the tough decisions they have made. Capturing the unmistakable voices of the firehouse, the courthouse, and the street, Micheels takes you to the heat of the fire and gets to the heart of the crime.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1991

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gritty, testosterone-filled first person accounts of New York City fire marshals from the 60s to the 80s. The marshals are law enforcement - they carry guns, make arrests, investigate arsons, and can issue subpoenas. The only women here are perps or victims. There's a special kind of fire women set - "female fires." They put the clothes of the man that wronged them into little rubbishy piles around a room and light them up. A lot of arson fires seem to be set by vengeful lovers; the Happy Land Social Club fire of 1990 killed 87 people and was set by a man angry that his girlfriend, the coat check employee, had dumped him.

The tales have a distinct urban ambiance. Fire marshals interview Calvin, the elevator operator at a building where a suspicious fire has occurred. Calvin is helpful, but he later turns out to be a serial killer of middle-aged transient women.

Calvin had killed a woman and thrown her body into the air shaft. The air shaft terminated on the second floor. She went down at least four floors and landed headfirst. Her head protruded through the ceiling into a second-floor room.

The occupant of that room came downstairs to the desk clerk and made a complaint. The nature of his complaint was that he wanted someone in charge to "make this stop" and when he was questioned as to what it was that he wanted stopped, he said, "A head was sticking through the ceiling, and blood was dripping down into his sink." He didn't mind it for the first couple of days but now it was going into the fourth day.

[J. Dallas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firefighters with guns. An exclusive look into the world of the Fire Marshals. Ride along from the ghettos to the penthouses of New York with the unsung group of the FDNY.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book,hard to put down,great insight on fire Marshals and the job they do