in the pre-introductory phase of modern firefighting, firemen, with their policies of courage and resilience, learned to spurn the conventional wisdom that suggested brute force as the only path to combat blazes. instead, they adopted a stealthy approach to navigating through smoke-filled environments, a tactic that allowed them to save lives with surprising effectiveness. this was a time of profound learning, where the notion to start over with new strategies invited innovative thinking that forever changed the landscape of fire safety.