Fires and Fire-Fighters: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Fires and Fire-Fighters, credited to John Kenlon, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Fires and Fire-Fighters by John Kenlon. Read in English by Maria Kasper John Kenlon became a New York City firefighter in 1887, and was appointed Fire Chief in 1911. In 1913, he wrote this authoritative book surveying the history of fire-fighting from ancient Rome to 20th-century New York. The first part of the book explores the evolution of fire-fighting techniques in various countries and the development of equipment and organization, and describes several famous historical fires and how they were fought. The remainder of the book discusses in greater detail some particular types of fires confronting an urban fire department in 1913, such as hotel, theater, factory, hospital, and school fires, sea port fires, and skyscraper fires. The author also emphasizes the need for high pressure water delivery systems, sprinkler systems, modern apparatus, and proper training for firefighters, and touches on the role of underwriters and salvage corps. - Summary by Maria Kasper

Recording facts

• Recording title: Fires and Fire-Fighters
• Author credits: John Kenlon
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 26
• Listed recording duration: 14:12:54

Catalogue topics

• new york city
• fires
• firefighters
• firefighting
• fire history

Opening tracks: first 24 of 26

1. 01 - Introduction — 14:06
2. 02 - Fire Fighting in Ancient Rome — 11:28
3. 03 - The Evolution of Fire Fighting — 24:46
4. 04 - Past and Present - Reminiscences of a Fire Fighter — 53:27
5. 05 - The French Fire Fighter — 47:44
6. 06 - Fire Fighting in Germany — 36:36
7. 07 - Fire Departments of Middle Europe — 36:22
8. 08 - The Trade of Arson — 33:55
9. 09 - Gasoline and Garages — 21:33
10. 10 - Great Fires and How They Were Fought, part 1A — 39:36
11. 11 - Great Fires and How They Were Fought, part 1B — 34:24
12. 12 - Great Fires and How They Were Fought, part 2 — 52:10
13. 13 - The Hotel Peril — 38:09
14. 14 - Theatres and Fire Panics — 28:09
15. 15 - The High Pressure System — 27:21
16. 16 - Fire Control in Schools, Factories, and Hospitals — 40:08
17. 17 - Fire Fighting in the United Kingdom — 56:48
18. 18 - The New York Fire Department — 40:43
19. 19 - Sea Port Problems — 36:35
20. 20 - Fire Strategy in the Homes of the People — 29:02
21. 21 - Quick Burners — 36:07
22. 22 - The Problem of the Skyscraper — 26:33
23. 23 - Apparatus for Fire Fighting — 36:28
24. 24 - Two Platoon System — 7:55

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.