So I’ve been doing this project for my English class where I need to research different genres of books. I’ve noticed there are like A TON of crime books out there, especially compared to firefighting books. Like, I get that crime stories can be super thrilling and stuff, but firefighting is equally intense and heroic, right?
So, I’ve got a couple of questions:
Why do you guys think authors write more about crime and police stuff than about firefighting?
Are there even more crime books because there are more police officers than firefighters in the US? Or is it just a popularity thing?
Anyone know of any good firefighting books I can check out? Would be super helpful for my project!
Thanks for the help! And sorry for any typos, typing this in between classes lol.
P.S. My friend bet me that there are more policemen than firefighters in the US. Does anyone know if that’s true
by margethegoat
5 Comments
It’s usually because a story can get more out of crimes than fires. And besides, crime isn’t limited to a specific profession. The protagonist can be the person trying to solve the crime or the criminal carrying out the crime. And said person doesn’t even need to be a professional, they can just be a little old lady akin to Miss Marple. Whereas firefighting doesn’t have as easy a narrative hook.
Firefighting is 99% boredom with 1% sheer terror.
Firefighting is boring, repetitive and fairly straightforward, from a literary perspective. I’ve been doing the job for 12 years, as well as being on the EMS side for 20. When I think of things that would be exciting and engaging for a reader like rescues, suppression and response, it’s such a small part of the job, even for the FDNYs and LAFDs of the world that it just isn’t feasible to be realistic, engaging action.
When I look at TV portrayals like 911 or Chicago Whatever, I see crews doing a careers worth of work in a season. Even when I was doing blowout firefighting (like Kuwait after the first gulf war), it was 6 hours of setup, a few days waiting for enough water to be hauled in, countless hours of meetings, drawings and plans….and then about an hour of “action”. Then comes 2 days of cleanup and a week’s worth of hose washing.
Crime also has karmic resolution. The bad guy gets what’s coming to them. This makes people feel good. Firefighting, not so much. Can’t do a dramatic courtroom reveal with a faulty electrical outlet.
Also, there are more firefighters than police officers in the USA when you include volunteers.
Fires mostly don’t have villains. Antagonists are great for story telling.
Are you really going to read a 400 page book about somebody fighting a fire? Seems like it would get kind of repetitive after the first couple chapters. With a crime book you can have an entire novel trying to catch the bad guy. With a fire fighting book the only goal is to put out a fire. I suppose you could combine the two, and have a fire fighter who catches arsonists… but even then, it would primarily be a crime book.
As far as police versus firefighters, that’s an easy thing to Google.
800k+ police
https://nleomf.org/memorial/facts-figures/law-enforcement-facts/
Of the total estimated 1,041,200 firefighters across the country, 676,900 are volunteer.
https://www.nvfc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NVFC-Volunteer-Fire-Service-Fact-Sheet.pdf
your average person doesnt strive to be a criminal. But we are curious by nature, and books are a safe way to explore that hidden crime world
Besides, things like the mafia have influenced politics in the USA for example, and Id rather be informed.