"Fire and Water" is the story of Don "Gums" Eichin, from Long Island, New York. Don was one of a handful of pioneering surfers in the late 1950s and 1960s that set out to make a life in Hawaii.
Don was joined by some of surfing's greatest legends, testing their skills in the big waves of Hawaii's North Shore: Surfing Oahu's Banzai Pipeline, Waimea, and a break called "Gums" infamously named after one of Don's worst wipeouts.
Returning to NYC in the late 1960s, Don became a New York City firefighter during one of the most dangerous times in NYC history.
Living a life that is no less than legend, his passion for surfing, the ocean, and firefighting passed through a generation, inspiring his family and friends to surf and become FDNY firefighters.
This film is an important lost surfing tale that is still being written today, as Don's sons, Eric and Randy, follow in their father's footsteps alongside good friends Brian Walsh and Casey Skudin.
It is a surprising and eye-opening look at how surfers from New York have always been there and how these surfers gained respect amongst surfers from all over the world.
By the award-winning team that brought you "Shadows of the Same Sun," writer and director Thomas Brookins and producer James Baker bring another installment to New York's rich surfing history.
With astounding lost images, film footage, interviews, and cameos by Rob Machado, Kassia Meador, Mikey DeTemple, Rochelle Ballard, and Fire Fighters across America, "Fire and Water" pays respect to America's bravest and their brotherhood.