6. Car Accident
SIX
Car Accident
STEVE
Grant’s Crossing, Ohio
“Hey, Steve. Why don’t you bring a date when we meet up at Jo’s tomorrow night?” Tim asked inside the Grant’s Crossing Fire Department engine as it sped down the county road on its way to the scene of a multi-car accident.
“Yeah,” Emerson added after a glance out the window. “We see Derek out and about all the time. Why don’t you ever bring your women along?”
Scoffing, Steve had to yell over the wailing sirens. “My women?”
Tim laughed. “Yeah. I’m bringing Vanessa–”
“You’re back together again?”
Tim laughed. “Always! Celeste’ll be there with Kiro.” He nodded in the direction of Tank. “Tank might even bring Araceli along. You should bring a date, too.”
“Nah.” Steve laughed and shook his head. “I don’t stay local, man. I’ve gotta live here.”
“Yeah, but you should really–” Emerson started.
“Maybe when you bring Aimee,” Steve cut him off with a smirk, “we can talk about that.”
Emerson still hadn’t mustered up enough courage to ask his long-time crush out on a date. The sounds of good-natured laughter filled the cabin, though Emerson avoided further commentary as the engine stopped.
The intersection was still in utter chaos as the first police cruiser entered the scene. Mangled car parts covered the intersection as cars attempted to drive through without damaging their own or making the existing accident worse.
Three smashed-up cars sat tangled up with each other, two far worse than the third, and all three with deployed airbags and injured drivers.
“That’s enough, men,” Tank called out as he opened his door. “We’ve got work to do.”
Chief Travis parked the chief’s truck near the engine and assessed the situation as soon as he got out.
The chief pointed to the banged-up car that wasn’t entirely attached to the other two. “Shek, Emerson,” he called out. “You head to the driver over there in that first car. Steve, you go with them and check his injuries.”
They ran to the car as Kiro and Derek, the two primary paramedics, pulled the gurney out of the back of the ambulance.
Chief Travis called out on his radio. “Dispatch, we’re gonna need at least two more buses with medics at our location.”
“Copy that.”
“Tank, Tim.” The chief pointed to the other two smashed cars. Get in there. See if we can get to them.” He turned toward the ambulance. “Kiro and Derek, you each take a driver.”
Every man sprang into action just as two more police cruisers arrived on the scene. The first stopped in the intersection and spoke to the chief to figure out a plan of action. The other officers kept traffic moving and made way for the additional ambulances.
Steve ran back to the engine to grab a neck brace and the jaws of life to extricate the first driver out of the car while Tank came back for a saw.
The grinding sound of the saw cutting through the steel provided background noise as Steve did his best to calm a young teenager who rambled on about wanting to let his friends know he was on his way.
“I only looked away for a second,” the teenager cried.
“Don’t move, okay?” Steve assured the driver as Shek forced the passenger door open. Steve squeezed in and strapped on a neck brace. “Stay still while we get you out of here.”
Steve kept a hand on the frightened driver’s shoulder as Emerson forced the door open. A second paramedic team pulled up in time to help the driver onto a gurney. They took him away to the hospital, fortunately with just a broken arm and possible concussion, along with a variety of assorted bumps and bruises.
Meanwhile, Steve helped the second driver, who had just received cuts and abrasions from being bounced around and hitting his head on the steering wheel after the airbag deployed. He would be sore, but he would be okay.
Kiro was inside what was left of the third car through the back windshield, treating an unconscious driver from the backseat while the other firefighters attempted to disassemble the car around him.
Steve was helping with the clean-up when they finished getting the third driver out of his car.
That car was wrapped around a light pole and pinned there by the second car. It’s a wonder the driver survived at all.
Steve watched from a distance as Kiro and Derek treated the driver on the scene. Outside of the Navy corpsmen Steve had served with, they were the very best medics he’d ever known. If he were ever injured, they were who he’d want to treat him. He knew they would do everything possible to get the injured driver to the hospital in as good of shape as possible.
Steve was stowing his gear back on the engine as Kiro and Derek sped away in their ambulance.
“Good work, men,” the chief announced after consulting with the police. The tow trucks arrived just as they were finishing their cleanup. “That was a rough one.”
Back inside the truck on their way back to quarters, Steve couldn’t stop the thoughts niggling in the back of his head about his chief’s comment. He smacked Tim’s arm to get his attention.
“What did the chief mean when he said ‘that was a rough one’?”
“You don’t know?”
Steve shrugged. “Know what?”
“The driver Kiro and Derek treated?”
“Yeah?”
“The one in such bad shape? That was Kiro’s neighbor,” Tim explained. “He grew up next to him.”
They arrived back at the station before Steve had a chance to ask his name.