“Very little. There’s a lot of non-perishable storage down there. Plates, cups, plasticware.”
Luna indicated the ‘No Smoking’ sign. “Where do most people take their smoke breaks?”
“Outside,” the manager responded immediately.
“Thank you for that information,” Williams cut in. “Knight, give the command.”
“Begin initial survey, Ladder 15. Engine, stop at the top of the stairwell.”
Luna took point, and Theo took the tail, holding their pry bars and fire extinguishers. It should be enough to put out a spot fire. TV made it look so simple to put the ‘wet stuff on the red stuff.’ Water was great at putting out fires, but it would also destroy any electrical equipment down there. In real life, they knew the hotel would prefer less enthusiasm, if possible.
“Entering the basement,” Luna’s voice reported through the radio. “Turning on the thermal imager.”
Then there was nothing.
Thirty seconds passed. One minute. Two minutes.
Nothing.
Erin bounced on her heels, waiting. If she stopped moving for more than thirty seconds, the PASS device would alarm.
The radio silence was unnerving. Why weren’t they giving status updates? There should have been a radio communication every minute or so.
“This is Knight E215. Ladder 15 team, are you receiving? Over?” Vanessa identified herself officially as the engine driver. “Do you copy?”
Only static on TAC-1.
This was all sorts of bad. Luna might have been pissed, but she would have never ignored those radio commands.
They heard Vanessa cycle through TAC-2 and Command Channel and return to TAC-1. “Ladder 15, do you copy? Someone answer.” Her voice was pressured.
Still nothing.
A new command came across the radio on TAC-1. “This is Williams. Ladder 15, stay where you are. RIT team is coming to get you. Keep your air on… if you can.” The next communication was directed at Erin and Aiden. “Nozzle team, drop the hose and use the RIT bag. That’s not smoke. It’s Freon. Ladder team has Freon exposure and can’t find their way back. You need to make sure your SCBA is on. Listen for PASS devices.”
There was the critical information Vanessa had missed. Leaking Freon could be mistaken for smoke. If Ladder team hadn’t gone down there on air, they could be exposed. A low dose of Freon caused confusion, a higher dose caused unconsciousness, and an extremely high dose caused death.
Erin turned on her air and dropped the hose. A PASS alarm went off next to her; Aiden hadn’t moved. She pushed his arm. “Lieutenant, the safety rope.”
He shook himself, the movement disabling his alarm. “Yes, the rope.”
They attached the safety line to the metal banister. Erin decided to take the lead, RIT kit in hand, since he was acting oddly. He didn’t question her and followed her down within an arm’s length. They passed through two rooms of boxes and then entered the room called ‘Equipment and Air Conditioning.’
Inside the air conditioning room, Carver was on the floor, his PASS alarm beeping loudly. Theo, Luna, and Kevin were stumbling around, tearing at each other’s turnouts and faceplates.
The problem was readily apparent. They hadn’t turned on their air and, with the Freon confusing them, they were unable to turn on their SCBAs. Firefighters relied significantly on drilling and muscle memory, and the new, unfamiliar turnouts negated even that advantage.
Aiden spoke to the radio, “We have located all four members of Ladder 15. Request medical assistance.” His next orders were for Erin. “We need to turn on their SCBAs. I’ve got Carver.” Aiden rolled over Carver, cutting off the beeps.
Erin nodded. She twisted the air knob on the back of her teammates’ SCBAs. The tanks pinged when the air turned on, and the three immediately calmed down. Carver did not appear to be conscious and didn’t respond when Aiden turned on his air.
“I’m going to extract Carver. You guide the other three.” She assisted Aiden with tying the rescue rope from the RIT bag around Carver’s shoulders to drag him because carrying someone over the shoulder was much harder than it appeared. Erin also tightened the neck-straps on the SCBAs since all three of the others had been clawing at those areas and some were loose. “RIT 15 is evacuating Ladder 15. Have medics standing by.” She pushed Theo, Kevin, and Luna together. They didn’t resist and acted quite relieved.
The more they walked, the more she could see their abnormal gait. They stumbled and struggled to stay upright. Erin guessed they hadn’t turned on their air because they weren’t ordered to and hadn’t checked their mask seals. Small amounts of Freon leaked in, except on Carver whose inexperience left a larger unsealed spot.
At the stairs, the conscious members of the Ladder team were able to climb up unassisted, so Erin and Aiden carried the unconscious Carver up the stairs together. He seemed to be coming around.
The D-shift had brought in the stretcher, and they dropped Carver on it. The medics put him on a pulse ox monitory and an oxygen mask.
