Firehouse – Jill Freedman

Firehouse is Jill Freedman’s celebrated 1977 photography collection documenting FDNY firefighters during New York’s gritty “War Years.” To capture it, Freedman lived among firefighters in the Bronx and Harlem for over a year, working 12-hour shifts and sleeping in a fire chief’s car since she wasn’t permitted to stay in the firehouse dorms.

The result is a raw, humanizing portrait of the job — danger, tragedy, and rough tenderness alongside the everyday camaraderie back at the station. Freedman’s photography is held in major collections including MoMA and the Smithsonian, and the 2022 reissue adds 12 previously unpublished images to the original collection.