When the Bronx Was Burning: Firefighter John Finucane on the Bronx of the 1970's

[Gmancrap]

Somebody should make a movie about New York and it's problems during the 70's.

[krichards816]

@Gmancrap check out "the Bronx is burning" Stay safe..

[SuperTornado2212]

I lived in East Bronx and I remember there were many fires in the late 60s!!!

[ufuckfacesonofabitch]

Glad to see that the South Bronx has flourished somewhat for the better. I was there late last year. I knew a little about what had happened in the 70's but when I got back and looked it up I was shocked to find out what it looked like back then compared to what I had just seen.

[1f5sda]

Hopefully, things are getting A LOT better now for that neighborhood!

[kellystreet23]

Finucane wants us to think that he was the only firefighter in NYC during this era.Hundreds of other NYC firefighters fought those blazes too. I'd like to hear their stories,instead of ones from a self promoter like Finucane. Finucane likes to exploit tragedies to get himself some publicity. Whether it be an issue in Belfast or the Bronx, Finucane will use it for publicity. Finucane is nearly 40 years behind Dennis Smith's book on the S. Bronx.

[kellystreet23]

Finucane is a phoney. He is just copying what Dennis Smith was writing about nearly 40 years ago. Finucane exploited the Northern Ireland issue for his own self-promotion years back. Finucane is no author.

[mxpassion17]

my uncle told me most of the fire was started by tenants, so then they would be moved to housing with very low rent to pay.

[Wamz1978]

@mxpassion17 Inaccurate. It was usually landlords who wanted out and wanted to collect the insurance money... they would hire a super, a tenant, in some cases a local hood to burn the building down and then collect on the policy. While I am sure there may have been some situations where a tenant independently committed arson, for the most part the problem was created the old fashioned way: through greed and desperation. Landlords torching their own places for the insurance payout.

[mrvirginiabeach]

Something else for fire fighters.

[straz135]

And he writes a mean book too. Nice job John!

[bxbuff]

By the time all this started, the City of New York was the primary landlord to all these buildings, for failure to pay taxes.

[abmindprof]

Did any of those landlords go to jail?