By Jaswant Lalwani
I live in New York City — the clang of metal and the wail of a red fire truck’s siren are ubiquitous, the city’s heartbeat. Firefighters are its silent guardians, responding to blazes, medical emergencies, and disasters with speed and precision. Beyond battling flames, they rescue trapped residents, provide first aid, and promote safety through inspections and education. Their courage and readiness form the nucleus of urban resilience — protecting lives amid chaos and danger.
But what is a day in the life of a firefighter really like? What is a real firefighter like?
By a stroke of serendipity, I met Furhan Ahmad — a rare South Asian in this all-American brotherhood.
Ahmad is tall, well-built, and young, with a calm, commanding demeanor and a face that radiates both trust and wisdom — all the qualities we instinctively associate with those on whom our lives depend. We met at the Belle Époque-style Lafayette Brasserie to talk about his life in the New York City Fire Department (FDNY).
Born and raised in New York, Ahmad has always been tethered to the city’s pulse. He became an EMT right out of high school, later served as a police officer, and eventually found his calling as a firefighter.
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Why, I asked Ahmad, did he choose this path? It was all about caring, compassion, and giving back, according to him. As a child, he had witnessed the city’s rough edges and the lack of support many people faced. In 2005, fortune smiled — he was inducted into the FDNY, where he could finally live his dream.
Over Stumptown coffee, I asked how the siren affects him — that piercing alarm he’s heard countless times. “It pierces the stillness of everything around you,” he said. “It’s not the kind of sound you can get used to, even after years on the job; it slices through conversation, through dreams, through breakfast, and reminds everyone of why you are here.”
The friendly staff brought us their famous supreme pistachio croissants.
A typical day? By mid-morning, training begins. At his Ladder Company on the Lower East Side, the crew drills inside the firehouse, practicing hose stretches or navigating smoky mazes designed to simulate burning buildings. The city’s verticality demands constant preparation — hauling tools up 20 flights of stairs with little visibility is not something left to instinct. Even veterans train daily, because the city, and its emergencies, never repeat themselves.
Preparation is survival, because at any moment, the bell may toll for thee.
Then the calls come. But are they always fires? Often, they’re medical emergencies — a heart attack in a fifth-floor walk-up, a construction accident, a child choking. FDNY firefighters are trained first responders, often arriving minutes before paramedics.
Ahmad describes a real-life fire situation. When a blaze erupts, the chaos is immediate and unforgiving. Inside, the heat is suffocating, visibility nearly zero. The crackle of flames mixes with the thud of boots and the hiss of water. Firefighters move in pairs, depending on one another as though tethered by invisible rope. They search for trapped residents, their breathing punctuated by the rasp of air tanks. Every second becomes a balance of calculation and instinct — sharpened by training, but ruled by urgency.
But what Ahmad remembers most are not the clanging sirens of the fire engines — that visible, romantic folklore we all know so well. What stays with him are the faces: the woman in public housing, destitute and hungry; the child who goes without medical care; the hollow lives destroyed by circumstance; the futility and hopelessness he witnessed daily.
Ahmad’s eyes well up as he recalls those indelible images — and the helplessness he sometimes felt in their wake.
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Would he relive it all again? Would he encourage the young to dream as he once did? His answer is a resounding yes. “All of us should be grateful for where we are,” he says, “because, by a roll of the dice, our roles could easily have been reversed.”
I asked about his future plans. Public service, he mused — perhaps as an elected official or within an agency supporting New Yorkers in need — feels like a natural progression after years as a first responder. Yet art remains his grounding force and inspiration.
Under the tutelage of the legendary Roy DeCarava, Ahmad discovered the quiet power of images to move people. For him, both service and art stem from the same source: empathy and purpose. He hopes to channel those twin passions for the greater good of the city he loves.
And then, there’s love itself. Ahmad is engaged to Anjula Acharia — the elegant, glittering sophisticate shaping the global narrative one South Asian story at a time.
From the clank of city sirens to the siren call of a warm and loving partnership, Ahmad marches onward — toward a destiny filled with art, compassion, love, and grace. With quiet confidence, one of New York’s bravest has renewed himself.
(Jaswant Lalwani is a global real estate advisor and lifestyle consultant in New York City. He is also an avid writer and globetrotter. To read more of his work visit www.jlalwani.com)