Heights Fire Fighter Justin Watrel Promotes His First Book 'Firehouse 101'

Hasbrouck Heights Fire Fighter Justin Watrel is currently promoting his first book, “Firehouse 101.” 

This past weekend Watrel (who writes under the pen name Watral) promoted the book at the sixth annual Brooklyn Book Festival, the largest free literary event in New York City which presents an array of literary stars and emerging authors who represent the exciting worked of literature today.

Watrel’s book, “Firehouse 101” tells the story of Honolulu hotel executive, Alex Livingston, who is transferred from his dream job at a luxurious Honolulu hotel to his company’s downtown property in Brooklyn after the severe downturn in the economy after 9/11. There he must face the family he ran away from years earlier and a city still reeling from the horrific attack.

There Alex discovers its denizens are not just trying to make sense of a world gone mad, but dealing with day to day issues in their multicultural neighborhood in Boerum Hill. Alex befriends a local fire fighter, Ryan Callahan, who is haunted by his role in the events of 9/11.

Through Ryan and his firehouse comrades, Alex comes to terms with the bizarre turns his life has taken and has new hope for the future.

“The book deals with what the characters lives have become and what their futures could be as opposed to a story of the 9/11 attacks,” Watrel said. “The book is not the traditional 9/11 story about the towers getting hit or the story leading up to the attacks. It is a fictional story about the people affected and then left behind to deal with their personal issues.”

“I had read many books related to 9/11 within the first three years of the attacks and none of them dealt with people who lived outside the New York City area. Many of my readers are displaced New Yorkers or from the Tri-state area, whose lives were affected by the attacks and whose ties to the area run deep. I felt like they were attacking my home.” Watrel was living in Monterey, California at the time of the attacks and visited New York City shortly after the city reopened.

“Featuring ‘Firehouse 101’at the Brooklyn Book Festival was a great learning experience for me,” Watrel added. “The book’s roots are in the very neighborhood where the festival was taking place. Neighborhoods mentioned in the book, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens surround the downtown area.”

Watrel added that “selling at the festival was an enjoyable experience and I made a lot of contacts. Many readers, including a few fireman and EMT’s, came to the booth and told me their own personal 9/11 stories and where they were when the towers fell. It makes an author feel proud when a book can create that type of dialogue amongst strangers and how 9/11 still affects us in many ways.”

Watrel is currently editing the next book in his New York City trilogy, “Love Triangles” for publication and is currently writing the third book, “Dinner at Midnight” for future publication.

Watrel is an active member of Engine One and the Volunteer Ambulance squad in Hasbrouck Heights.

The books are sold under the umbrella company of ‘Watral Books’. He publishes through IUniverse and the book can be bought through its website or ordered through the Internet or any bookstore.