Just about every fireman at some point early in their career wonders what it would be like to make a save, as in save someone from a burning building. What kind of building will it be....were would I find them, will I have to grab them and run down the stairs, or will I climb a ladder through a second floor window and find them unconscious in bed. Fact is, that aside from your really busy fire departments that catch a lot of fire, a huge number of firefighters never get the chance to make a save.
Now as a live in firefighter, the fire house is your home. You wake up, go to work, and come home to the fire house. You physically live there. At the time I lived there, there were a total of 11 live in members. All who either had full time jobs or were attending college or even both. And at any given time, any combination of the guys (and at the time, one girl) would be at the station. On this one particular night, there were 9 of us. The house officer of the night was the girl. She was in fact a lieutenant, now I could tell you that she was there for the job and was worth of a colored helmet, but that, in my opinion (and that of many others) would be a lie. I won't get into the hows and whys because it's not important. Anyway, every evening the house officer would find out who was or wasn't going to be at the station over night and then make riding assignments for those sleeping up. These were pre-assigned riding positions so that in the middle of the night when a call came in, everyone knew what rig they were riding, in what riding position for any type of call, structure, non structure and vehicle accident/rescue. This eliminated the confusion of who's riding what and where and help speed up response time. I was assigned Chauffeur on the truck. In civilian terms, the chauffeur is the driver/operator of the rig and a "truck" is a ladder truck. I was just fine with this, you see the truck was our pride and joy, it was a 135 ft ladder, or "straight stick" (meaning it didn't have the bucket at the end of the ladder to stand in) Not only that, but on about only 1 in every 4 or 5 fires is the aerial ladder used, which means as the chauffeur, the odds were I wouldn't have to operate the aerial and could go "play" with the rest of my crew performing any one of a multitude of tasks that the truck company is responsible for. So all in all, to me, it was a good assignment to have.
As the night went on, we ran a minor accident, and a smells & bells call or two (smell of smoke/something burning & automatic fire alarm) but then it was time to hit the bunk and call it a night. Now sleeping at a fire station takes some getting used too because the dispatch radio is piped through out the firehouse including the bunk room. So you hear ever word said on the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some people adjust pretty easy, others, not so much, but eventually you learn to sleep through it all but at the same time never miss a beat. You hear every pre-alert, every address, every call that other stations run and every word spoken on the radio. And its nothing in the morning for the guys to discuss in detail the things they listened too while they slept. Its weird, I know, but that's how it is. Well at sometime around 0200 hrs (2 am) in a dead sleep, I hear 2 pre-alerts, this doesn't wake me up, but it kinda brings you into a "lighter" stage of sleep. After all, 2 beeps is a structure call, and chances are, we're going. As I lay there asleep, I hear the dispatcher start his cadence. "At 3930, Building J, for a reported structure fire, with entrapment, companies 1,3,6,Truck 4, Truck 5 due to respond" Now before he could finish the initial dispatch, just about every one in the bunk room was up and moving if not already sliding down the pool to the apparatus bay. My bunk was closes to the door, so I was the first one down, I climb into my boots, pull up my bunker pants, grab my coat and my leather(helmet) and head for the truck. Before my ass hits the seat I'm reaching for the start buttons and get that big diesel motor hummin. I close the door cab, click the garage door opener and switch on the emergency lighting and wait for my crew. I anxiously wait for the guys to get on and the officer (our "favorite" female) is the last one on and asks..."where is it?" I repeat the address and she starts flipping through the the map book for the fire pre-plans for the apartment complex, I give two honks of the air horn, release the breaks put the pedal to the floor and away we go.
As I'm pulling out, the dispatcher gets on the radio with a supplemental (a report with more information from the 911 caller) and says they're receiving multiple calls and that one caller had stated the building is full of smoke and can hear some one calling for help but cant get to them because of the fire. It's at this point it hits me....this ain't no bull shit burnt food run...this is the real deal in a multi residential building and some one's in a bad spot....big time. I feel a quick rush of adrenalin flow threw my body as my foot becomes heavier on the gas pedal. As I make the first turn, I'm thinking about the crew assignment, and remember thinking that I have a good truck crew, an aggressive group of guys who aren't afraid to work & get into the thick of it...they the only exception being the officer in charge of the rig, but if she was going to prove herself, this was time to do it. After about a mile of straight road I reach my second turn, and notice there isn't a car on the road, which is good, cause this 65 thousand pound hunk of aluminum and steel is hauling ass....big time. I wasn't driving it, I was flying it cause I swear that fuckin ladder truck had wings. As I approach the right turn I take it into the left turning lane to give my self as much room to make a right turn as possible as to not lose any speed when I notice the 6 lane road I'm turning onto is empty, so I use every inch of the road taking my foot off the gas if only for a second, then once I make the turn it's back to the floor. The big diesel V-8 is screamin and I'm running it into the governor at around 68 mph. I know the general area where the apartment complex is, but I also knew it's right next to another one, I just wasn't sure which was which, and this wasn't the time to mess it up because it would in fact be a monumental fuck up and I wasn't about to do that to my crew or my station. So, as we approach the 3rd turn I ask the officer, "Is it the first or second left? In return I get a frantic "I don't know!!! It's not in the book"
"BULLSHIT" I shot back....."Find me that fuckin building!!!"
By this time I've made the 3rd turn, and I'm approaching the 4th turn that leads onto the road in which the driveway to the apartment complex(s) were, and that's only about 100 yards after I make the turn. As I approach the 4th intersection, I ask again... "WELL??!!"
Again I get "Its not in here!" By this time, I'm at the 4th turn, and hesitate to go because I don't want to make the turn into the wrong complex. I look to my left and Truck 4 is approaching the intersection and they have the green light, so even though I can make the turn and beat them in, I impatiently wait for them to pass and figure I'll follow them in. Only now I'm pissed, big time. Being the only 2 truck companies in town, there's a bit of a rivalry and beating them into a fire means bragging rights. But due to incompetence on the part of the person in the seat (officers seat), we wont get them this time. Truck 4 passes and I pull out right behind them...go about a hundred yards and we both slow down to let Engine 1 turn into the complex.... Now I'm really pissed because we were the last due unit and would have been first into the scene had the dumb broad in the officers seat known what the hell she was doing. But...No time to dwell on it because as we turn in you can smell the smoke and just see it over the buildings in front. I scream over the motor to the guys in the back "We got smoke showing" This for them is sorta like first hand confirmation that this is a real job.
We make a right and go down the hill and around a bend to the fire building and all I can see is smoke pouring out of every floor of this building and people, at least a dozen of them, hanging out of windows and off of balconies. Some of them half naked, covering their mouths with a shirt to breath, every one of the screaming for help....it was unreal..... It looked like a scene from a movie.
As we pull up to the building I turn to our "officer" and ask "What do you want? (us to do) She looks at me with a look I can only describe as amazement and eyes the size of dinner plates and says.."I....I....I don't know..."
I let out a "Jesus Christ your useless, stay in the truck so you don't get some one killed" then I slap the parking break, flip the PTO to power the aerial and scream back at the guys "Ladder that fucking building!"
We bail out of the truck, the smoke heavy in the air and the screams of trapped people becoming more louder and frantic, The guys run to the back and start stripping the ground ladders from the truck and getting them to the building. I throw my wheel chocks and set the ground plates (metal plates the out riggers or stabilizing jacks sit on when deployed) then head to the back where the controls are. I set all four out riggers which fall perfectly on their ground plates, and the whole time I'm engaged in a kind of ballet, stepping around the guys as they pull ladder after ladder from the truck. I flip the power switch from the jacks to the ladder and climb up to the turn table and ladder controls. As I start bringing the ladder from the cradle and rotating towards the building I spot one of my Asst. Chiefs, "Lurch" He had come from home straight to the scene and had not yet been assigned a task yet so I ask him to "fly me in" (be my eyes and guide the tip of the ladder close to the building so that I don't ram the building with the ladder) I position the ladder for roof access as ordered and hope from the turn table....all of this taking only 4 or 5 very short minutes. Buy this time the guys are still throwing ladders and pulling people out of the building, I head for the cab to grab my coat and my helmet when some lady comes running from the back of the building screaming, "There's people in the back and they can't get out!" Lurch yells "Let's go!" and we grab 2 roof ladders from the truck and head straight for side 3 (back of the building)
We make our way around to find a slew of people gathered to watch and to aid those who were able to make it out on their own, still coughing and hacking from the smoke they had inhaled on their way out. Adding to the already borderline chaotic scene, those not aiding others were yelling and pointing to upper floors, Some even stepping up to us to be sure they told us face to face. I remember having to stop my forward momentum 2 or 3 times because of it, I remember one lady actually grabbed my face and positioned it towards the upper floors. "LOOK" she screamed, "Do you see them?!" "YES!...I SEE THEM, NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!" I shot back as I pushed her hand from my face. You see, it's not that I was pissed at her, well OK, maybe a little, but it was the repetitive interruptions we face while trying to do what they were so adamantly making sure needed done. In a situation like this seconds count, and they were wasting them, and we just wanted to do our job.
Now free of civilians, Lurch, radios command to advise them about the dozen or so patients located in the back of the building, and I'm screaming to people on the upper balconies trying to talk them out of jumping. Once I get them talked off the railing and back onto their balconies I have the task of telling them not to touch the ladder. You see, in panic situations like this, civilians have been known to start climbing down the ladder before it's set and stable, even at times, jumping to the ladder while its still feet from the window, or in this case, the balcony. Both instances usually don't fair well for the civilian and sometimes a firefighter down below. . I finally set my ladder to the balcony and begin my assent, the whole time trying to keep the people calm. I make it up to the balcony and there is a boy standing there, probably about 16 or 17 and he frantically begins to tell me his mom went back in to the apartment. My first thought is "Are you fucking kidding me?!" but I ask where. He tells me "Through the dinning room and to the right.." as he points into the dark smokey abyss. Now I can't even see the room just inside the door, let alone be able to tell if it's a dinning room or not, and I'm thinking that I'm gonna get my ass chewed off for this one because all I have on is my boots pants and helmet, no SCBA or even my coat, so technically I shouldn't be any where near the building let alone on a balcony. But...I get low and go in anyway. I crawl through the door and the smoke is kinda thick and nasty, I yell for the woman then try and get close to the floor for fresh air, but there is only about 4 inches of "fresh air space" at floor level making it kind of difficult. I take in some smoke and start coughing a little bit and holler for the woman again, still making my way deeper into the room. Take another breath, and this time gag a little bit....I'm not quite sure why, but for some reason, compared to other fires, this smoke tasted like shit, it was just absolutely horrible. I finally lay flat on the floor to try and catch my breath from that valuable 4 inches of air. I call again, and finally I get a reply.
"Hello....Mam....it's the fire department, where are you?"
She shouts back... "I'm looking for my cat, but I cant find him... please help"
"Mam, you need to get out of here it's not safe, lets get you out then worry about the cat,.... where are you?"
"I'm in the Kitchen" she replies.
By now I am able to realize that I am in fact in the Dinning room just inside from the balcony, so she's got to be close, but the voice is coming from my left, not my right, the direction I was told she went.
I start along the wall to my left towards the voice make it about 5 feet and find the kitchen, I call for her again, this time when she answers I realize she's only a few feet from me so i sweep the floor with my hand, and just as I bump what I think was part of her leg she grabs my hand. I pull her towards me and begin to make my way back to the door with the woman in tow. Both of us coughing pretty good, but we finally reach the balcony.
She gives a hug to her son then I help her onto the ladder and climb down just ahead of her to make sure she doesn't fall. Then I head back up for the son. On the ground, Lurch asks..."Hey dude...where the fuck'd you disappear too"
I reply..."The dumb broad went back in to look for her god damn cat."
Now, this has always baffled me... I understand pets are like family...but putting your self in jeopardy by going back into a burning building for your cat or dog or what ever...that's just plain dumb. Many civilians die every year doing that. But anyway...
Lurch and I kinda give each other a look as if to say "good job", then he says lets get back to it....but go put the rest of your gear on.
"ME?!" I exclaim.... "your the one in he nomex PJ's!
In simple terms, "Nomex PJ's" are what we call it when some one shows up to a call at night in regular clothes...in his case, a t-shirt, soccer shorts and flip flops with socks.
"Yea...I'll probably hear about it too" he replied.
We both chuckled and made our way back to the front of the building.
I head back to the ladder truck and ask one of the guys how it's going.....he tells me the fires now out and they have some over hall to do. I figure that by this time the fire floor is probably nothing but ass holes and elbows....a bunch of fireman standing around watching 4 or 5 do all the work, so I decided to stay at my post on the turn table and watch.
About 10 min go by and I notice my guys coming out of the building... I hop down and greet them and ask how they're doing...is every one OK and things of that sort. They start telling me about what they did inside and the ladders they threw and the saves they made. Even the useless lieutenant would get credit for a grab, She climbed a ladder as it was being thrown by another firefighter.
When it was all said and done, the crew from #5 made six saves that night, plus 3 pets...one of them being the cat that led me in after that lady, and Lurch and I did get a piece of our asses bite off by the chief for what we were wearing that night, or more importantly, what we weren't wearing. We took our lumps then went back out to the apparatus bay. We knew we were in the wrong, but the job still needed to be done, and if it happens like that again....we'd probably do the same thing.
I walked a little taller for the following day or two. Granted, I didn't pull a life from the bowls of the fire, but it was still a save non-the less. As I look back on it now, I still get filled with a sense of pride, but, when it comes down to it, I was just doing my job.
