Fire trucks parked on closed-off 17th Street in front of the World War II monument, but firefighters were not engaged in fire control. Instead, they stood on top of their trucks as people crowded around them, handing up digital cameras and begging them to take photographs of them in front of the crowds. The firefighters obliged, although one could be heard, grumbling, “O.K., we’ve got to wrap this up now.”-New York Times, 1/19/09