His name. His woman. His…
Not the time, he reminded himself. The patient wasn’t the only one who could get hypothermia, especially now that they were wet and muddy. “Let me check with dispatch for the ETA.”
“I don’t think we have to wait,” she said.
There was a rumbling sound behind them, and two snowplows came around the curve, followed by the Firehouse 15‘s Ladder, Engine, and Medic, lights on without sirens.
Erin whooped. “Took you long enough to answer my evite!”
The first snowplow stopped, and a head popped out. Noah vaguely recognized him from Battalion 2’s D-shift. The driver said, “Better late than never.”
The rigs stopped, and Williams got out of Ladder. Vanessa Knight led a D-shifter with a gurney over to relieve Erin by securing the victim’s neck and getting sign-out.
Williams greeted him, all business. “Sorry, Chief. It’s a mess out here, even with most people off the roads. We’re outside our usual area; the two firehouses between us and here are still digging themselves out. We sawed through a few trees to get here.”
“Did you steal the snowplows?” Noah asked.
The captain’s mouth twitched. “They’re borrowed. Rodriguez arranged for the D-shift to park four plows at 15 yesterday.”
Clarke stuck his head out of the officer’s seat on the passenger side. “D-shift from yesterday is manning them. We sent one to open the freeway exit by MetroGen and then clear out the path to the ER. We took two with us, and one we sent east to clear out the ODOT garage.”
All good decisions. Any emergency vehicles would need access to MetroGen and access to more snowplows could be a game-changer.
“Give my compliment to Rodriguez.” Noah didn’t mind giving her praise, unlike the taciturn Williams. “Heard from HQ?”
“Nothing yet. Dispatch gave us two more calls. I want to split the team. First plow will go with Medic to MetroGen. Second plow will lead Engine east to a fire at Briar Hill nursing home in 19‘s coverage area. Clarke, you’ll be in command. Have Medic join you with their plow after they make their drop-off.”
Clarke confirmed the order and the two plows, Engine, and Medic departed.
“The second call?” Noah asked.
“Ladder 15 will head to an accident on 480. We can backtrack.” Williams hesitated, his eyes on Hudgens. “I had intended on her being the third, but…”
Noah understood the dilemma. He and Hudgens were soaked to the bone and shivering. She was in no shape to jump onto Ladder. “Way back to 15 clear?”
“Might be the only clear street in the city. We took parallel streets to reach you,” Williams said. Another good reason to double the plowed streets.
“Why don’t I head back to 15? I’ll run incident command from there until we reestablish communication and access to HQ.”
“She can act as your aide for now. Don’t let her drive that car,” Williams said, equally unimpressed with Erin’s car. He almost smiled. “Hope today was everything you dreamed it would be.”
Noah found himself smiling back. Williams had remembered after all.
Williams gave him the cell numbers of the plows and got back in Ladder. They drove off, and Noah went to speak to Erin, but she was back at her car.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not leaving without the pies.” She opened her trunk and took out multiple plastic grocery bags.
“Pies?”
“Yes, I left early for shift to pick up pies from Giant Eagle.”
“You drove in this weather to pick up pies! In that? Front wheel drive and no SNOW tires!” He pointed at the wheels, which were now partially covered with snow.
“I was doing okay until I stopped to help.” She began carrying the bags to his back seat. He did the same, startled by the weight. She must have bought twenty pies.
“You were lucky. You live in the snowbelt. That car is a deathtrap. You need an SUV or a truck or a tank with four-wheel drive. Weren’t you here last winter?”
