War Stories by Lew LeBlanc, edited by Susan (Elvers) LeBlanc ’82. This is one of those “lift the curtain” books, where we get to view from the inside a workplace we normally know only from the outside. Lew, a seasoned firefighter, lets us in on what goes on in a series of anecdotes. At first I thought each tale would be “we went to fire and then we put it out.” It turns out that every fire is different, more and more the firefighters in this suburb of Boston are called upon for medical emergencies, and humans can be counted on to make mistakes and get in trouble. One fire, apparently set by an arsonist, failed to burn down the house because the windows and doors were so sealed up that there was not enough oxygen to sustain a fire. The fire flashed, making a lot of smoke, and then went out on its own. This is a book to have on your Ipad – you can read an anecdote while in a waiting room or when your waiting for your grandchild to come out of school. The picture emerges of a man who had the right job for his talents and temperament; he really enjoyed the excitement of tending to emergencies, working with brother and sister firefighters, and finding the humor in everything that goes wrong.
