firefighters

Demolition supervisor John Feal was working at ground zero 16 years ago when an 8,000-pound piece of steel crushed his foot. After being denied medical compensation, he became an advocate for others.

Chicago's fire department gets 20 times more medical calls than fire calls, but it has twice as many firetrucks as ambulances. Other cities also face this disparity and there are calls for change.

Most calls to the Houston Fire Department are for health problems, not fires. All those medical calls strain the 911 system and make a career in firefighting seem more like a career in health care.

Busy schedules and long hours of training are partly to blame for the ever-shrinking volunteer pool.

Communication breakdowns can be fatal for firefighters, but are all too easy when crews are shrouded in smoke and a blaze is moving fast. Florida, with its millions of acres of forest and grassland, has rolled out a new system that can pinpoint crews without relying on voice communication.