Includes index

Prologue -- Chief Feehan -- The roaring twenties -- Taking its toll -- Kids from Queens -- The Holy Ghost -- Family man -- Lieutenant Feehan -- The war years -- Moonlight Bill -- Breezy Point -- Chief Feehan -- Commissioner Feehan -- The squirrels -- Union boss -- Father's Day -- The white helmet -- The aftermath -- Epilogue

"Seen through the eyes of four generations of a firefighter family, Five Floors Up is on one level the story of the modern New York City Fire Department. From the days just after the horse-drawn firetruck, to the devastation of the 1970s when the Bronx was burning, to the unspeakable tragedy of 9/11, to the culture-busting department of today, a Feehan has worn the shoulder patch of the FDNY. The tale especially shines the spotlight on the career of William M. Feehan. "Chief" Feehan is the only person to have held every rank in the FDNY including being New York City's 28th Fire Commissioner. He died in the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. But Five Floors Up is at root an intimate look at a firefighter clan, the selflessness and bravery of not only those who face the flames, but the family members who stand by their sides. Alternately humorous and harrowing, rich with anecdotes and meticulously researched and reported, Five Floors Up takes us inside a world few of us truly understand, and documents an era that is quickly passing us by"--