“Today, I hear.”
“All right. In the meantime, let’s run some drills and clean our equipment. It’s been slow the last couple of days, and you know what that means.”
A series of grunts and scraping chairs echoed as we stood. A slow couple of days usually led to all hell breaking out. It was summer after all, and things never kept quiet for too long during the summer.
****
“Heads up. He’s here,” Carter stated, tapping my bunk as he moved past me.
I rose up, peeling my eyes open from the short nap I was trying to get in. It was later that afternoon, and I was working a twenty-four-hour shift. I was attempting to get in a little shut-eye wherever possible. I had a feeling I’d be getting very little sleep that night.
Hearing footsteps around me I got up, tucked my navy blue, Williamsport Fire Department shirt into my standard department issued black trousers, slipped on my black boots, and headed down the steps. When I reached the middle of the stairs, I could make out the top of the new captain’s greying head as he moved toward the kitchen. By the time I reached the bottom step, I could make out the speculative glare Don was giving the new captain. I followed him, and we stood at the kitchen’s entrance, silently watching as our new captain wordlessly went over to the counter, grabbed one of the mugs from the cupboard, and poured himself a cup of coffee. By that time, the new captain had an audience of about six guys, who just stood around observing him, scoping out his behavior. Bringing the mug to his mouth, he turned and acknowledged each man with a slight tilt of his head. Only the rookies returned the nod, much to the chagrin of the older guys, including myself.
I observed the captain, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, sandalwood colored skin, and eyes that were slightly darker and sharp as a tack. He appeared to be the type who only needed to see something once to have it committed to memory. He also had the look that most older firefighters had in their eyes?as if they’ve seen a hundred lifetimes in the decades they’ve been on the job, and they had.
“Where’s my office?” his gruff voice asked, looking around.
“Upstairs, Cap.” That was one of the rookies.
Sucking teeth and mumbling ensued that from Don, Corey, Carter, and a few of the older guys. Rookies had so much to learn. Captain already knew the answer to his question before he asked. He was testing us to see who’d break this little showdown first. Of course, it was the same fucking rookie who took the keys out of the rig the other week. I glanced over at Don who gave me a look. I nodded, conveying I was already assigning this rookie cleanup duty for the next week for his latest gaffe.
“I’ll be upstairs,” the new captain informed, moving past us with his coffee mug in hand. For his part, he didn’t appear intimidated or put off by the cold shoulder he just received. That boded well for him. Captains couldn’t show weakness, not if they expected this group of roughnecks to follow them into the flames.
A few hours later the new captain received his first ride with Rescue Four when we got the call for a three-alarm fire. As soon as the alarm sounded off at one in the morning, I was up, ripping the blanket off of my body, whipping my feet over the side of the cot and directly into my boots, which were strategically placed where they’d be easily accessible. Less than three minutes later, I had my fireproof pants on, suspenders up, and was sliding down the pole right behind Don, Carter following right behind me, and the new captain behind him. I glanced at Corey, who was now relegated to the back of the rig because the captain always sat up front, passenger side.
I reached for the keys, relieved to feel them in the ignition already. Seconds later, we were in the rig, sirens blaring, charging out of the garage and making a left toward the fire. I focused on the road but could hear the captain using the walkie-talkie to communicate with headquarters. They’d gone to a private radio line to communicate, which usually happened when someone had been injured. I pressed my foot on the gas, pushing the rig to get us there faster. We were three blocks from the fire when I saw smoke billowing up toward the sky. Huge plumes of black clouds hovered over a five-story brick building. From the looks of it, it was some warehouse.
The captain grunted beside me. I didn’t know him well enough to understand his grunts and moods just yet, but if he was thinking what I was thinking, it looked as if this fire was going to be a doozy.
“Roger that,” he said into the walkie-talkie just before we jumped out of the truck. Ours was the first truck there, soon followed by two more rigs.
“Kim, you, Alvarez, and Williams find a way in. Rookie, you’re with me. When I move you move. Got it?” The captain didn’t bother waiting for the rookie’s reply. He referred to myself, Don, and Corey by our last names. Nonetheless, we grabbed our hatchets and the hose, then hooked it up to the nearest hydrant, but we didn’t immediately turn the hose on. The fire was now shooting outside of the fourth story windows. Observing the area, I saw people in nightgowns and sleeping attire crying across the street. I knew there was a high chance that people were still inside. It was one in the morning, and in all likelihood many people were passed out from smoke inhalation or trapped inside.
“Don, Corey, let’s go!” I yelled, running toward the first entrance I saw, lowering my mask over my face. I entered on the first floor and yelled at a few people I saw coming down the apartment building’s stairs, pointing toward the exit. A few of them cowered in fear. In addition to people being terrified of fires, seeing large, bulky men in facemasks can be jarring in the middle of the night. I often have to cajole frightened children and even adults, letting them know I’m there to help them not harm them. Of course, I didn’t always have time to play nice, so yelling out orders and directions ended up being my go-to method most of the time. They may not like my tactics at the moment, but in the end, I’ve never met a person I pulled out of a fire not say thank you for saving their ass.
“Anyone in here?” I yelled, banging on each door I came to. Corey and Don were doing the same behind me.
“All clear!”
“Clear!”
Both men yelled once we cleared the first floor. I led the charge up to the second floor, which was coated with a thick fog of smoke. By the time we arrived, we knew the fire started on the fourth floor of the building. There was already smoke on the second floor which meant the fire had burned down to the third floor and soon down to the second, soon enough consuming the entire building.
“All clear!” I yelled out when we cleared the second floor. Thankfully there were no people trapped, but I knew the next two floors were going to trick us. As we made our way up the nearly black stairwell, which would carry us to the third floor, I steadied my breathing a much as possible. There was a great deal of noise that could be heard on our two-way radios.
“Fourth floor is completely consumed! Copy?” I heard the captain’s voice.
“Roger that!” It was meant to be a warning. We were not to go up to the fourth floor. We were already on shaky ground on the third floor. I heard the heavy breathing of Corey and Don behind me. We knocked on doors of the apartment.
“This one’s locked!” I shouted when I came across a closed apartment. I checked over my shoulder to make sure no one was behind me and swung my hatchet into the door, making a hole big enough to stick my arm through to reach the knob and unlock the door.
“Fire department! Anyone in here?” I yelled out, doing my best to make my way through the living room, then down the hallway to what I presumed were the bedrooms. I check one room, looking around as best I could, and saw an empty bed. When I cleared that room, I started to head to the one across the hall only to be nearly knocked over by Corey.
“I got one. She’s unresponsive,” he informed me.
I got on my radio. “Coming out with a female. Unresponsive.”
“Don!” I called, making sure he was with us.
