“Give me an update.”
“The fire is out. I’m in charge of triage and transport. Lots of smoke inhalations, a few bad burns, and we’re trying to get a full head count. Four teams are searching for more victims and bringing them here. Clarke, Jones, and Jefferson are inside.”
She didn’t like teams of three. It was usually two in or two out, but Carver had useful abilities here. “What has incident command said about evac?”
“Ummm… I’m the medical incident commander right now. I get an occasional message from the Captain of 19, the IC.”
Now that was bad news. They were lucky 19 hadn’t burned the building down with everyone inside it. They were in dire straits indeed if the highest ranked officer available was the captain of 19 and they faced over a hundred people freezing to death.
“Where’s the backup generator?” she asked. Over fifty elderly residents were gathered in the front atrium. Many were smoke stained and gasping; their oxygen had been left behind.
“It was in the utility room next to the cafeteria.” Carver answered unhappily. “We barely kept the oxygen storage from blowing. This is the only place that isn’t on the oxygen line.”
She clapped him on the shoulder. “Good thinking, Carver. Are you separating into acuity levels?”
“Yes, we have about seven nurses and aides from the home who are helping corral them. Where are they going?”
“I’m not sure.”
Back on the street, Vanessa heard the hum of a diesel engine and more vehicles behind it. She grinned when she saw the third snowplow from the ODOT garage arrive, trailed by a city bus and seven ambulances!
She ran back outside to greet the caravan. The ambulances were a mix of Rescue Alpha and other firehouses. Vanessa waved her hands wildly to get their attention.
A short African-American woman dwarfed by a Cleveland Browns jacket ran out to meet her. “I’m Kyra Yates, Rescue Alpha instructor. Chief Baker needs us to assist with evac. How can we help?”
“You brought a bus?” Vanessa was shocked.
“Yeah, everyone in Rescue Alpha is firefighter trained first. Driving a bus isn’t different than a Ladder truck.”
“I have a firefighter separating the patients into groups. What’s Chief Baker’s evac plan?”
“The sickest patients are going to MetroGen. Chief Baker arranged others ones to meet at an elementary school about five blocks over. That’s what the bus is for. I have permission from Baker to double and triple up the patients inside the ambulances to MetroGen. I agree with his protocol suspension.”
“This way.” Vanessa pointed. Yates signaled her people to exit the ambulances.
Vanessa almost fell over when she saw who was unloading the gurneys. “So many ladies?”
“It’s the paramedic battalion. Where do you think the female firefighters were hiding?”
“And they all came to work?”
“My husband is a gambler and, according to the Magic 8 Ball, disaster was certain, so I had my entire team spend the night at our firehouse. Baker sent us a snowplow, and we borrowed the city bus. I was a nurse at MetroGen. I don’t do surprises.”
Vanessa was feeling better leading this group of paramedics into the building. “This is Jacob Carver. He’s our acting medical incident commander. I’m Lieutenant Vanessa Knight, by the way.”
Yates had stopped and was staring at Carver, pretty unhappily. She shook herself. “I see. Give me your red tags first. No black tags. MetroGen is already beyond the capacity of their staff, so prioritize.”
“Absolutely, ma’am.” Carver’s previous good mood sank. Vanessa didn’t have time to care what Carver had done to annoy this particular woman.
Just then, the other three from 15 arrived with three patients in wheelchairs. They were pretty smoky, and Aiden looked stressed.
Vanessa made a decision, “Carver, you take Katz. Give me your turnouts, helmet, and SCBA.” The protocol was to only enter buildings in appropriate gear. Carver was doing medical stuff, so he didn’t need his. It was safer in pairs, especially if Aiden wasn’t cutting it, again.
Carver handed over his gear. Kevin pointed to a map on the wall that was covered with post-it notes. There was an empty section. “We’ve have teams in almost all of the areas except hospice. They were closest to the cafeteria and usually had their oxygen wide open. The staff said they are housed in pods of five.”
“Can you take the pod closest to the fire? I’ll send more teams after you.” Yates asked.
Once again, Aiden didn’t take charge. Vanessa took over. “Closest pod to the cafeteria, got it. Radio contact on TAC-1? Incident command on the command channel?”
