From veteran firefighter to Chief of Department, all members of the Newark Fire Department began their careers as Probationary Firefighters. Most fresh out of the Fire Academy, some fresh off the street reporting to their first assignment without training or turnout gear. None with any Newark experience in their newly chosen profession. What did it feel like walking into that first firehouse, responding to that first fire? In First Days/First Nights, Newark firefighters recount their earliest experiences on the job. The comic mixes with the tragic in these tales of how fire service careers began from the 1940s to the 2010s.