Program Archives
Decade of Fire
Directors/Producers: Vivian Vasquez Irizarry & Gretchen Hildebran
Genre: Documentary
Program Length: 1 Episode/60 minutes
Broadcast Date: November 4, 2019 on PBS (Independent Lens)
ABOUT THE FILM-

Decade of Fire covers a shocking but untold piece of American urban history, when the South Bronx was on fire in the 1970s. 

Left unprotected by the city government, nearly a quarter-million people were displaced as their close-knit, multiethnic neighborhood burned to the ground, reducing the community to rubble. 

Buildings burned almost continuously from an estimated forty fires a day that destroyed 80% of area housing stock and displaced a half-million residents. Decade of Fire uses striking, never-before-seen archival and home movie footage, plus testimonials from retired FDNY firefighters and brass, as well as Bronx historians and community organizers, to reveal the real reasons for the devastation, showing what can happen when a community chooses to fight back and reclaim their neighborhood. 

With the help of fellow survivors, Vivian Vázquez Irizarry, who grew up in the South Bronx, and other community leaders tell the story of how they banded together amidst the rubble and built a better future for their children.

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About Us
Latino Public Broadcasting is the leader of the development, production, acquisition and distribution of non-commercial educational and cultural media that is representative of Latino people, or addresses issues of particular interest to Latino Americans. These programs are produced for dissemination to the public broadcasting stations and other public telecommunication entities. LPB provides a voice to the diverse Latino community on public media throughout the United States. Latino Public Broadcasting is a registered 501(c)(3), EIN: 95-4776447.
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