Working Fire in East Cleveland
ON THE BOOK SHELF
By John M. Malecky February, 2026
Working Fire in East Cleveland
By Michael C. Ede
Available from”
FSP Books
433 Main Street Suite 2A
Hudson, MA 01749
1-800-522-8528
e-mail: support@fire-police-ems.com
Price: $19.99
This is a soft cover book measuring 6 inches by 9 inches and has 196 pages.. The author is a retired lieutenant from that department and shares his memoirs in a very honest, genuine way, holding no punches when required and being accurate in many of the details. Being a retired member of a career fire department I can relate to much of what he writes about. East Cleveland is a small suburb of Cleveland, Ohio and from what I read, I would not ever want to live there and wondered if he did. As I read the book I realized that he did not live there. The town is ridden with crime, fires, typical politics and a lack of funds to make it efficient. There are 27 chapters about war stories (working fires), firehouse training and routines, types of firefighters, relationships among different races of firefighters, and many more subjects. The town has two fire stations and eventually responded to EMS calls as well as fires and other emergencies. Some of the stories are heartbreaking and close calls. One particular chapter which was interesting was called “Rumors.” The chapter had stories that were never actually proven to be true but might have been. Again having put a career in a paid department I could relate to some of these type stories that occurred in my own department or what I have known from visiting other departments. All in all it is an excellent book that could be read by anyone since much of the FD Lingo is explained by the author It is a quick read with fairly short but nevertheless easy to read, interesting chapters.
No information from the author.
