Cory Booker fire rescue 'very heroic' but very dangerous, fire officials say

In Booker’s case, O’Connor says the risk was to save a life which might have made it worth doing. “You can’t help but admire what the mayor did, it’s very heroic,” says O’Connor, who says he would have probably done the same thing. “I would have made my best effort to get in there,” he says.

Booker’s actions seem to have resonated with hundreds of people. On Friday, on Twitter one tweet said, “When Chuck Norris has nightmares, Cory Booker turns on the light & sits with him until he falls back asleep.” Another tweeter identified as Dr. Jill Biden wrote, “Cory Booker doesn't run into fires, fire runs away from Cory Booker.”

A Stanford University graduate and former varsity football player, Booker rose to prominence as Newark’s Central Ward councilman. In 2002, he ran against long-time mayor Sharpe James, who defeated him in a no-holds-barred campaign. By 2006, there were reports that Mr. James was under investigation, and James did not run for reelection. Instead, Booker was elected in 2006 and reelected in 2010.

He is known as a hands-on mayor who is not afraid of picking up a snow shovel to clear sidewalks. His style and efforts have attracted national attention, including the 2010 pledge of $100 million to improve education in Newark from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

As mayor, he has faced a major budget deficit and the challenge of keeping businesses in the city while attracting new ones. He views Newark’s struggle as emblematic of other urban cities that have faced hard times. “In fact, looking across our state and even across our nation, we can take pride that Newark, in a time of urban despair, has become a city of emergent hope.”

In his State of the City speech this year, he detailed the city’s “firsts,” ranging from first in the state to have a center supporting grandparents bringing up grandkids to first in the state to have a one-stop center to help returning veterans. Now, the city may have another one: first mayor in the state to enter a burning house to save a life.

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