Troy Tippin recorded his memories of fire-fighting in a thin, red volume that had been published to commemorate the city’s department. Under a 1964 picture of two firemen half-carrying a third through a scattering of rocks and planks, he wrote, “Steve was burned on the roof by hot roofing tar.” Next to a 1987 photo of two engines surrounded by a tangle of hoses, Tippin scribbled the names of the streets – Detroit and Mount Vernon – and noted with a tinge of disappointment: “I just went off duty.”“A good friend as well as boss,” he scrawled at the top of a page dedicated to retired Chief Odell Benton. Benton’s name appeared again on the last page. There, Tippin wrote the names of every firefighter he knew who had been diagnosed with cancer.