Vivian Vásquez Irizarry

Decade of Fire

Gretchen Hildebran, Vivian Vásquez Irizarry

As a kid in the South Bronx in the 1970s, Vivian Vazquez watched her tight-knit community become a burned-out ruin as an epidemic of fires raged through her Black and Puerto Rican neighborhood. As Vivian seeks to understand the lasting effects of this tragedy on her family and community, she uncovers a story of injustice, survival and hope that resonates deeply in cities today.