Hansen probably opened his mouth to scold me, but Chief Davis spoke before he could. “You have five minutes,” he said. “Take two of your men and scout the first floor. The first floor only. Stairwells are too risky right now.”
With a curt nod, I went immediately for my gear and rounded up two of our best guys, Matt and Nick. We dressed for entry as the truck shot water at the flames, proving unsuccessful at best. I nodded at Chief Davis, then at Hansen, and my men and I went into the blackness, stepping inside the mouth of hell.
“Christ,” Nick said somewhere to my side as we entered. There were fewer flames down here, just a black, hazy smog that hung in the air, threatening innocent people with its ruthless poison.
“Is anyone here?” I shouted, shining the flashlight down the hallway. “I’m with the Eagle River Fire Department. Call out if you can hear me!”
Nothing. No sound except for the eerie cracking of burning wood upstairs. In a matter of minutes, the fire would burn through the second floor, collapsing it onto the first, right where we stood. All four floors would come down then, successfully smashing us under a pile of burning wood, tile, and rubble.
“Lieutenant,” Matt shouted over the roar of flames on the floor just above our heads. “It looks like everyone on the main level got out. Chief said no stairwells. We should go before the fucker collapses!”
I took another step forward, swinging the flashlight from side to side, knowing that if I turned back now and someone died, I would never be able to forgive myself.
Just as Matt had me about convinced to leave, a weak cry from another room reached my ears. For a moment, I wasn’t even sure if it had been real, but my body and brain jumped into action at once, and I headed for the cry, praying to a God I wasn’t sure I believed in to spare all of us. One more minute. Just another minute.
“It’s coming from in here!” I shouted, putting my hand against a jammed door. I nodded at the other two, then aimed my foot, kicking the door with such force that it slammed open, splintering into the smoky air. “Fire department!” I yelled. “Call out!”
“Here. Help me, please.” The voice was weak but alive, for the moment.
“Where are you?” I yelled.
Someone coughed a bone-rattling cough that sounded just as bad as it probably felt. “Under the desk. Please—please help me.”
Dropping to my knees with the flashlight, I crawled to the other side of the office desk to find a young, frightened woman huddled there, trembling. She had ash on her face, streaks of black in her hair, and eyes popped out of her head so large I worried she might just lose them.
“Keep your head down,” I yelled, putting my arm around her upper body. “My name is Korbin Butler, and I’m a firefighter. Are you okay?”
“The door jammed,” the woman said with a weak cough, eyes watering as the smoke from the upper floor began to seep thickly through the floorboards. “I couldn’t get out.”
“It’s okay. I’m here to help.” On my chest, the radio crackled to life.
“Pull back, Butler!” Hansen shouted into the radio. “You’re out of time! Get your men out. The building is going to collapse.”
“I found a survivor,” I said into the radio. “We’re on our way out now.”
“Wait,” the woman said as I tried to help her to her feet. “I think my friend Janice is still in here. She went to the bathroom and never came back.”
“Lieutenant!” Matt said, poking his head into the room. He and Nick got on each side of the victim, supporting her so we could get out quicker. “We gotta go. Let’s move.”
“You go,” I shouted, and just as the words left my mouth, the office room ceiling began to crumble and collapse. The woman screamed, terrified, but Nick and Matt’s protective hold on her didn’t waver as we rushed out of the office just in time to avoid being smashed by the burning ceiling.
“Shit,” Nick said, stumbling with the victim towards the exit. “Let’s gonow.”
“She said her friend might still be in there,” I shouted back, my voice muted by the roar of the flames growing around us. Now, we had only precious seconds until the entire building collapsed, taking itself down and everyone in it in the process.
“Engine One pull back,” Chief Davis said over the radio. “I repeat, pull back. Now!”
“Let’s go, Lieutenant!” Matt shouted. “There’s no time.”
“Go!” I shouted. “Just go!”
They rushed for the front door, but I turned to ease my way down the hallway, back to where the woman had pointed to the bathrooms. Matt and Nick were shouting behind me, but I knew they would be just about out with the victim. I stopped at what appeared to be a staff lounge and peered in, seeing that flames had already taken the room. I turned around and looked to the right. Restrooms. I placed my hand on the door and shoved it open, yelling again.
“Eagle River Fire Department. Call out!”
Not a peep. Not a moan. The only sound in the building right now was the whoosh of fire above my head, blended with the splintering of cracked and burning wood. I dropped my hands and knees on the tile floor to scope it out. Nothing. Nobody was here.
“I’m coming out,” I said into the radio. “It’s all clear.”
