“Carver, when the chiefs arrive, we stand. We sit only after they take their seats at the head of the table,” Vanessa reviewed. Chain of command was apparently absent in hospitals—though arrogance and mansplaining were not.
“Yes, sir. I mean, ma’am,” Carver corrected himself. Vanessa went down the line, rechecking their uniforms. She re-secured her elaborate French braid, still in perfect regulation. “Remember, we’re a team; we stick together. Our officers’ decisions, good or bad, are ours as well.
Erin felt ready. Her little yoga interlude had calmed her down in a way that shooting hoops, her usual method of blowing off steam, had not. While there was a rhythm to the bounce of a basketball, when she needed some real introspection to control her impulsive nature, yoga did the trick.
So did flirting with hot guys.
Footsteps came down the hallway, and they arranged themselves around the table. The chief entered, and everyone stood at attention.
Erin tensed her jaw to keep her mouth from dropping open. She’d been wrong; she had met the Chief. In fact, she’d nearly kissed him an hour ago.
The relaxed, friendly manner that she’d experienced was gone. He systematically examined each face and posture of her team, briefly resting on hers. His expression did not betray the slightest flicker of recognition.
“Hello, I’m Fire Chief Noah Baker. Chief McClunis had a prior engagement. If you could all please be seated, we can begin the incident debrief.”
Her mind racing, Erin carefully sat. Generally, she thought she had good instincts. How had they tanked this badly? She’d hit on the Fire Chief? A fire chief with a six-pack who’d parted his mouth when swooping in for a kiss . . .
“Firefighter Jones, could you begin telling me the circumstances of the garage incident on your last shift of this July?” The Chief selected Kevin first, most likely because he had the longest history in the department.
“Yes, sir. Dispatch sent us to a report of a possible minor kitchen fire. Since they had no other information, we took the entire complement—engine, ladder truck, and medic ambulance, with the intent to inquire about the nature of the incident with the homeowner.”
“Who was in command?”
“That was Lieutenant Rodriguez. She had a trial as acting captain,” Kevin said.
“Other staff?”
“Myself and Jefferson were on Medic. Carver and Hudgens were on Ladder with Clarke. Knight and Rodriguez on Engine,” Kevin answered.
“Three people on Ladder instead of Engine?”
“Acting Captain Rodriguez thought it would be appropriate to keep Carver on Ladder rather than Engine since operation of a ladder requires more technical knowledge, even though he is a paramedic,” Vanessa explained without waiting to be recognized.
“Carver?” Baker prompted. “Ladder team approached the door in full protective equipment?”
“Yes. Hudgens and Clarke also had fire extinguishers, but we didn’t have our oxygen on,” Carver stated.
“No, we had our bottles on our backs. We hadn’t masked yet, with no visible fire, and had not entered the structure,” Erin corrected him. She didn’t bother to mention that Carver was using the word ‘oxygen’ when he meant ‘air.’ Their SCBA tanks contained compressed air, not oxygen.
The Chief’s eyes rested on Erin, lingering on her uniform. “What next… Hudgens?”
“I informed Dispatch on command channel and Acting Captain Rodriguez of our approach on TAC-1. Dispatch did not respond.” She kept her response brief, identifying Tactical Channel #1.
“We went to the door and knocked. We identified ourselves as Cleveland firefighters and requested to do a safety check due to a report of smoke. The civilian—patient—who opened the door was acting skeezy,” Carver said.
“Skeezy?” The word sounded odd when the Chief said it.
“Shifty and suspicious. He didn’t like our masks or the crowd at the door. He became suspicious when Aiden—Lieutenant Clarke—tried to communicate with Lieutenant Rodriguez over the radio. He kept talking about someone named Riker.”
“Then what?” Chief Baker smiled encouragingly at Carver.
Carver confirmed the protocol violation that brought them all here. “Lieutenant Clarke agreed to remove his oxygen and follow the patient inside by himself.”
“How was Rodriguez able to keep abreast of the situation?”
“Clarke left TAC-1 open. We were able to hear everything in the engine and stayed silent to not spook the civilian,” Vanessa defended the violation.
“So, Lieutenant Clarke entered with the ‘skeezy acting’ civilian alone.” Baker’s eyes searched back to Erin. “Correct?”
