Williams considered her suggestion. “Have two people brace the ladder and one spotter. Rescue’ll handle the other two.”
“On it,” Luna said. “Kevin—”
“No, use Jefferson,” Williams said. “He’s the lightest and was a teacher.”
Everyone rotated around for the first two kids. It ended up being anti-climactic. Theo climbed the ladder and looped the safety tether around the tree. He coaxed each kid to come closer, fitted the kid with a safety belt, attached his own safety line, and climbed back down.
Firehouse 11 arrived with another Ladder, the rescue team, and their medics. They took over assessing the first two retrieved children as their officers consulted with 15 on how to rescue the remaining two.
“Why didn’t they pick trees closer to the road? I’d love to use my bucket ladder,” the captain of 11 said.
“You could shoot lines to the upper branches. Winch somebody up there and harness the last two,” Williams said. With a rescuer up in the tree, they could set up a second line for the kid, and the ground staff would lower them both down.
The Rescue Lieutenant was not enthusiastic. “Branches are too small for my guys’ weight.”
Luna drew attention to the women. “Use us; we’re smaller.”
Williams gave her a withering glare.
The Rescue Lieutenant brightened considerably. “They’re lighter.”
The other captain glanced at the women and smiled. “The preteen boys will respond better to them.”
Erin hid her response from Captain Williams. He’d enjoy reminders of the relative attractiveness of the women on his team.
“I can do it,” Luna volunteered herself.
“No,” Williams said. “You have the shortest reach.”
“Good idea.” The Lieutenant moved onto Erin and Vanessa. Luna couldn’t complain about getting sidelined; they were using her idea.
Rescue got two weighted rope guns from their rig. They fired weighted bags into the higher branches of the trees and secured the lines. They then fitted Erin and Vanessa with their own harnesses and gave them a second harness and helmet for the child.
Theo rechecked Erin’s safety restraints, clips, hooks, and protective helmet.
“You ready?” the lieutenant asked when Theo finished.
“Roger,” Erin said. Heights were not her favorite, but kids needed rescuing.
They started cranking her up, and she slowly passed through the tree branches. She was a good fifty feet up now. No time to worry about the height. “Hi there, Spider-Man. Can I webcrawl next to you?”
The little boy was in a tear-stained Spider-Man mask and holding onto a tree limb about four feet away. “Is my mom mad?”
“She’s a little worried, Ethan. I’m sure she feels better knowing how brave you are. I’m here from the fire department to get you down,” Erin said. She secured her harness and then dropped the second rope over the branches to set up his line. “If you give me a minute, I’m gonna get your rope ready so no one falls out of the tree.”
“I don’t like heights.” He was on the verge of panic.
“Me neither.” She used her best reassuring tone. “I almost fell once, and I used to be scared.”
“You were scared? You don’t look scared right now.”
“Time made me less scared. Right after it happened, I was very scared.”
“I’m scared right now,” he said.
“It’s okay. First thing we’re going to do is put this harness over you. I’m going to come toward you. Do you think you can scoot over here any?” The branch supporting Erin thinned out about two feet out.
“I don’t think I can!” He burst into tears again and shook hard.
