“Aye aye, Captain!” I said, offering him a playful salute, but it was clear that Calder was in no mood for lightening the situation with humor. To be fair, he never was. But I always tried, anyway. One day, I’d get him to laugh. That was one of my major goals in life.
I hopped down from the rig and followed Calder, who was searching for a safe entry point. That was something he was particularly good at. Finding even the smallest opportunity for us to get into even the hardest, most dangerous places. He had an eye for that kind of stuff. I did not, but I was good with people and keeping them calm, which was also important.
Once we got through one of the doors, Calder motioned for me to start clearing the area while he got to work upstairs. I could hear people yelling, desperate and terrified, from above us, but I focused on my section of the building. There seemed to be about six units on each floor. It wouldn’t seem like that many on an ordinary day, but when every second counted, it was a hell of a lot to get through.
I didn’t bother knocking on the first door. Down here, the smoke wasn’t as bad yet, but that could change on a dime. I shoved my way into the apartment.
“Anyone in here?” I hollered, my voice bouncing off the walls. I checked all the rooms just in case, but it was empty. That was good, though whoever lived here was going to get quite the surprise by the time they got home.
I headed back into the hallway and to the second apartment. The building was creaking around me, making those eerie noises that only fire could bring with it. I could hear Calder moving around upstairs, working on getting right into the danger zone.
The second apartment’s door wasn’t locked, and inside, I found an elderly lady with wide eyes and a terrified look in her eyes.
“There’s a fire, you know,” she said sweetly, as if she wanted to warn me. “You should get out of the building.”
“Why don’t we go together, hmm?” I asked, reaching out a hand for her to take. “Then you can make sure that I’m safe.”
I’d met many people like her in my career. Those that were slightly forgetful, or in a more advanced state of dementia, some who had been left behind by their families, and some who had always been alone. I wondered which category she belonged to, but it wasn’t something I could spend a lot of time thinking about. For now, all I could do was to convince her to go outside with me.
“Sure, sure,” she nodded, taking my hand and leading me out of the apartment. “Don’t be scared, dear. We’ll be alright. The firemen will come and put it out.”
I didn’t point out that I was, in fact, a fireman. There wasn’t much of a point in trying to convince her of that. As long as she got out, and was physically safe. I managed to get her out into the road and at a safe distance, where she insisted that I find my parents and I assured her that I would.
I nipped around a corner until I was out of her sight, and decided to check on Ash. He was holding the hose up toward the second floor, at a point where I imagine Calder had signalled a point of entry for the water. From where I was standing though, it looked like he was having a hard time. The fire had clearly moved further along the hallway, and pretty soon something could collapse.
I rushed back toward the first floor doors. I had to make sure everyone was clear before I helped Ash; and I had to be fast. He wasn’t going to be able to hold the fort for very long, and it was clear that the fire would get out of control if there was only one hose on it.
The third and fourth apartments were empty; more people who had gone off to work and would come home to a fairly ruined building. The last two were empty, as well, but these had clearly been evacuated sometime after the start of the fire. Things were left thrown around haphazardly, like the inhabitants had been running, and the doors were all unlocked.
Satisfied that the floor was clear, I ran back outside to the rig. I moved fast to set up a second hose, and aimed it at another section of the building. I could see Calder moving on the second floor, probably gathering everyone inside to get them out in a safe spot.
I’d have to get the ladder to get them through the window on the far side. It was the only area that had not been swallowed by the flames at this point. That also meant that one of the hoses would need to be switched off, and that would need to be timed.
“I’ve got the ladder,” Ash suddenly yelled over all of the noise, closing his hose and dropping it to rush back to the rig for the ladder. “Control it!”
I grumbled under my breath and steadied myself. Ash was often a rash guy, but that worked in his favor when someone had to make quick decisions. He’d do something long before he thought it through. I moved my hose to a different focal point, trying to regain the ground lost by Ash running off.
He got the ladder into place and started helping Calder get people out of the window and down to the ground. I kept my eyes on the prize, keeping the bulk of the blaze out of the way of that side of the building.
I was starting to worry that the structure could collapse with everyone inside, which would be more than a huge bummer. Calder was working fast, and so was Ash, but there was always the chance that it wouldn’t be enough. Things could go wrong soeasily and so quickly, and we’d never see it coming. That was the nature of the job, of course.
It had been a while since the last time we’d lost a brother, though. Three years. Enough time that we’d started feeling like we were invincible again.
“Beck!” Ash appeared a few feet away from me again, hose in hand. “The fire isupstairs.”
I realized I’d lost my focus for a second, and my hose was pointed straight ahead at the top of the first floor, about three feet below the nearest open window. I cleared my throat and adjusted my aim.
“Got it,” I shouted back, only to receive a shake of the head from Ash. I was never going to hear the end of this, but that was fine. I still had that one night that Ash forgot his underwear when we left for a call to hold over his head.
It took a few minutes, but Calder finally managed to evacuate everyone from the second floor. He delivered them to the EMTs before rushing toward us to take up the third hose.
“You seem a bit off your game, Ash,” Calder said loudly, one eyebrow raised. It wasn’t something that I’d noticed, but Calder was the most competitive out of all of us. He liked getting under our skin as a form of motivation, and most of the time, it worked. It was one of the reasons we were known as one of the top teams at the station when we were on the same shift.
“Ah, I’m a bit tired,” Ash answered over the noise of the hoses, adding a shrug to his words. “Had a bit of an action-packed date last night.”
I instantly clocked what he meant, and my jaw tightened. I should’ve known that Ash would’ve taken advantage of my cancellation to take his shot. Honestly, if the situation was reversed, maybe I would’ve done the same.
“That so?” Calder’s reply was measured and even, but I could see on his face that he had some seriousfeelingsabout Ash’s opportunism. I didn’t blame him, either. All three of us had a chance if we played fairly, but Ash wasn’t above a few dirty tricks. At the same time, I was confident in my own chances. I was the best with people by far, and I was hilarious on top of that.
