Rating: 
Summary: Good but with one big drawback
Review: Some reviewers who gave this book a negative review have amazing axes to grind.
One person who DIDN'T EVEN READ THE BOOK gives it one star because he think fire fighting should be a calling and Caroline Paul took the initial screening test on a whim - if you haven't read a book, DON'T WRITE A REVIEW of it.
Another reader is angry at Paul for mentioning her bisexuality because she thinks it will discredit heterosexual female firefighters - give me a break. Lesbians and bisexual women have enough roadblocks to overcome. Should an author have to lie about or conceal her life because you feel insecure? If you want to make your own heterosexual "lifestyle" more visible, write your own book.
Overall, this is a good book, chronicling the career of one of San Francisco's first female fire fighters, who enters the field almost by chance and grows to love it. The style is contained but passionate and compassionate, thoughtful, reflective, but also filled with action. In some ways this book reads like a coming of age story, even though Paul is an adult when she enters the service. Caroline Paul takes us inside the fire, inside the fire house, and on the journey of her own changing identity. But Paul is also conscious of her role as a woman and a pioneer. She spends considerable time discussing the implications of opening the fire service to women and the politics surrounding this move.
This is the one area where I found this book ultimately disappointing. Paul starts out really well. She has lucid smart things to say about the purpose of the physical agility and other tests - that tests should measure the actual task a firefighter must accomplish, and that as long as a firefighter has enough speed, strength, endurance, etc. to accomplish this task, they should be able to qualify for the service. She also deftly deconstructs the image of the "ideal" (i.e. large and male) firefighter. She talks about the assumption that big, loud football player types are assumed to be good firefighters, even by their colleagues, but that this is not a reliable indicator. She talks about smallish guys who have great intuition about a fire and are creative in how they use the tools. Those are the ones she would rather have by her side. I found all this to be very helpful in clarifying my thinking.
But then, unfortunately, Paul fails to extend her own argument to a larger segment of women. She, along with her male colleagues, is troubled by the political pressure exerted on the fire service by "lawyers" to modify the tests so that more women can get in. In arguing her case against dumbing down the tests Paul says that fire fighting has certain physical requirements and argues that most women won't be able to meet these. In making such a blanket argument, she fails women in two areas.
First, she doesn't account for any of the social factors that keep women from developing their full physical strength. Instead of making herself a role model of how strong women can become and encouraging her sisters, she puts down other women for the strength they have never been encouraged to develop. Secondly, she doesn't take her own insights about the "ideal" fire fighting body type far enough. If a small guy can do the job as well, or better than his big colleague, why not an average sized woman? From my martial arts training I know that every body type has its strengths and its weaknesses. The trick in any physical situation is to maximize one's (physical and psychological) strengths, while minimizing the weaknesses. Sure, if you are fighting a fire, you have to accomplish a physical task, but how you accomplish it is a matter of style and abilities. How many conventional fire fighting tools and techniques are what they are because they were developed by large muscular people? How would fire fighting change if more people who fought fires were small and light, for example? It's certainly worth considering. But Caroline Paul doesn't. It almost seems like she walked through the fire house gates and has since become something of a gatekeeper herself. This is too bad, because she fails to be as much of an ally to women as she could be.
So, overall, this is a good book, but it sends mixed messages - and not entirely helpful ones - to women.
Rating: 
Summary: Compelling, but...
Review: Sometimes the trouble with a book is not in what it reveals, but what it does not. Paul is a marvelous storyteller, and I couldn't put the book down. Perhaps then it's a function of success that I wanted her to tell more. Missing, except in tantalizing little bits, is an account of how her fire-fighting life informs or connects to her intimate one: granted, she reconciles with a parent and embraces faith, and maybe the rest of what I'm curious about just has to wait for her autobiography. Ultimately, however, it's unsatisfying to be told everything, and nothing, at the same time. She thanks someone in the Acknowledgements, for instance, for "putting up" with it/her, but who is putting up with what is never glimpsed in the text itself. And that's too bad. It feels like something's missing. Perhaps it's the real Caroline Paul.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellantly written book dealing with a difficult subject.
Review: The author takes you into the world of fire-fighting with accuracy and makes the worst situations real. Then she adds a touch that makes it understandable. She shows the worst of the best of us and the best of the worst of us.If you want pat answers that fit your prejudices, this is not the book for you. An excellent book for anyone interested in people, social studies or life in general. I know I will reaad this book again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Caroline breaks the mold: more brain with as much braun.
Review: The general public has little idea what being a member of the fire family entails. The politics, the hazing, the fight to "gain acceptance" by the "guys". Paul began her journey with the intention of doing what many of us wanted to do... investigate the harrassment and the notion of lowering training standards for the purposes of having "politically correct" looking fire personnel. Prepared to risk it all, Paul rose to the challenge of the emotional and physcial aspect of being a firefighter. Rather than allow herself to be a "victim" of the system (as too many minority probies do) she trained to become a respected firefighter. As a daughter, sister, niece and wife of a firefighter, I hope that when I am in need of a first responder, someone as skilled as Paul, regardless of gender or hertitage, assists me.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: The reason I loved this book is because its beautifully written. I wouldn't have thought a firefighter could write so lyrically, but one has. But its also a speedy read about adventure and adrenalin, from birthing babies to running into fire buildings. Ever since reading this book hearing fire sirens means a whole lot more to me, and i say a small prayer to keep those men and women safe.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Role Model At All
Review: This book had all the potential to become one of my favorites. As a young, aspiring female firefighter I anticipated finding in Paul a trailblazing mentor I could look up to. Instead I found myself faced with a colossal disappointment.
First of all, she begins the book by mentioning her sexual escapades with a girl in college. Is that really necessary to the tale of becoming a firefighter, or did she just throw that in to sell a few extra copies of this book?? Next, not only does she take her testing with SFFD lightly, she repeatedly insults the profession throughout the book, all the way to the end. She grimaces with distaste and embarrassment that it is "blue collar work", god forbid! What will her Stanford friends think? Gasp!
Furthermore, she seems high maintenanced and hyper sensitive when relating to the men of the department. She waxes on for years about some stupid fire station prank that a captain pulled on her. In my department, if you never have any good natured pranks pulled on you, you basically are not perceived as part of the family! It's a GOOD thing to be part of the jokes, and a healthy boost to morale.
For a Stanford graduate, she seems to really have a hard time grasping simple concepts. "What does this mean?" seems to be her mantra throughout the book. This is not rocket science, it's firefighting. While academy certainly gives us a lot of information to process, it's pretty basic concepts!
Finally, I find it hard to like her as a person due to her seemingly high level of conceit, which she unsuccessfully tries to disguise as modesty. She never fails to inform the reader of how beautiful or talented she is. Granted, the female firefighters of yesterday deserve to pat themselves on the back for making it a bit easier for us now, and I am truly humbled when in the presence of those female captains today. But Paul is a far cry from those aggressive women who refused to let a boys club like the fire department keep them out, fighting for their profession because they saw it as a noble and meaningful one. Paul is the opposite of the kind of women I seek out to train and mentor me, and I feel she gives women in the fire service the kind of negative press that anti-diversifying departments crave.
Rating:
Summary: A spine-tingling journey
Review: This book made me chuckle, cry, wince, and thank God that there are people in this world that want to be firefighters. Although I bought the book thinking it was going to be focused on a women's perspective of firefighting, it turned out to be an extremely well-written, in-depth look at SF firefighters as a whole. What I loved most was the lack of whining by Paul about being a woman in a male dominated workplace - she describes the challenges and obstacles she faced, but it is clear that she overcame them. She is an amazing, brave woman who faces challenges every day that most of us, women and men, wouldn't dare to. After reading this boolkyou will never again walk by a firehouse without looking in.
Rating:
Summary: Great story, interesting history of SF Fire Department.
Review: This is a fascinating growing up story of a privileged young woman who becomes a firefighter and finds fulfilment and personal growth in this blue collar job. Initially going into the SR Fire Dept. to write a good story about it she finds the job and her colleagues changing her. Nine years later she is still there having come through the racism and sexism which existed in the bastion of male bonding. The loyalty which exists among the firefighters, no matter what background or sexual preference they come from, is a learning experience for lay people. She has written a story of love, compassion and bravery which everyone should read.
Rating: 
Summary: It was Ok not enough HAZMAT stuff
Review: This is a great book about Firemen and their job they perform. I look over my men everyday and respect all the work that they do. They are true professionals and show extreme brotherhood.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic book on the fire service.
Review: This is one of the better books to read for anyone interested in what it is like to be a firefighter. Ms. Paul takes the reader on an experience that makes you laugh and cry at times. The reader gets to see the "real" fire service and how the men and women interact with one another. It reminded me of my first years in the service with it's accuracy. I highly recommend this book.
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