‘Decade of Fire’ documents why the Bronx burned and how the flames ignited residents’ fighting spirits

New York Daily News, The (NY)

Nov. 2--The stench of fire hung in the air. Sirens wailed.

The Bronx was burning. And it was happening long before Howard Cosell announced it during Game 2 of the 1977 World Series.

Those terrifying and infuriating years are the subject of "Decade of Fire," on PBS' "Independent Lens" at 10 p.m. on Monday.

"I grew up in the South Bronx in the 1970s, during the time of the fires," is the first voice heard as burning buildings fill the screen. "To me, it was home."

That's Vivian Vázquez Irizarry, who made this film with Gretchen Hildebran and Julia Steele Allen. Irizarry relays her family's story, from Puerto Rico to the Bronx, to her son onscreen.

Part documentary, part home movie, this sets the record straight. It puts into context why the Bronx fell and why it seemed no one in power cared.

"The Bronx wasn't burning in a protest or a riot," Irizarry says in the movie. "We were fighting to survive."

The film traces the hideous spiral of how some 250,000 people lost their homes. Larcenous landlords paid young people to set fires. Desperate kids became arsonists for that money, and torched buildings. Landlords cashed in on insurance, the poor got poorer. Redlining and racism fueled these fires.

Over the years, Irizarry spoke about the fires with others who were there from 1968 to 1978. They shared that, naturally, life went on. They went to school, played ball yet were always on alert for the next fire.

After buildings were reduced to rubble, politicians posed using this urban moonscape for photo ops. When President Jimmy Carter did not deliver on his promises, President Reagan later showed up. He was told off in pure Bronx style.

"I am trying to tell you that I know now there is no program or promise a person or president can make that the federal government can then come in and wave a wand and do this," Reagan told a crowd. A woman screamed at him: "Go back to Hollywood." He returned to his car..

For those who were there, watching this one-hour doc will trigger flashbacks to the chaos. Still, it's impossible to watch and not learn something. It could be about redlining or about how some people refused to leave, or just about attitude.

Except for her years at SUNY Albany, Irizarry has lived in the Bronx. She continues to advocate for the borough as director of community-school partnerships at the New Settlement Community Campus.

"We need to pay attention to the policies that are made that affect our lives," Irizarry tells the Daily News. "What I want people to realize is these were human decisions that made and destroyed a community. And not only did the people in the South Bronx survive the consequences of those terrible decisions, the people of the South Bronx actually saved the South Bronx. There was a heart and a determination to stay and fight and build."

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