2. Artez “Flame” Gilliam
The heavy bass and rhythmic rap bars blasted from my wireless headphones.
My head bobbed between each workout I did.
The circuit exercises were my go-to every time the shift dragged.
The Cade’s Cove Fire Department had an easy schedule when the time moved fast, but on a slow night, .
. . it was extremely slow. Twenty-four hours on, two days a week.
This was my first twenty-four-hour shift of the week, and so far, all I’d done was scroll on my phone, eat, and work out.
“Hey, Flame!”
With a quick tap on the screen, I paused my sprint on the treadmill and wiped my face on the small rectangular towel I placed on the handle of the machine at the start of my workout.
“What’s up, Charles?” I removed the headphones from my ears and let them hang from my neck. I grabbed my phone to pause the music and waited for Charles to respond.
Charles Dixson was a probationary firefighter. He’d recently passed his exam and would need to log in a certain number of hours before he could move up in rank.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t want to bother you, but I need your help—or some advice, rather?”
“About what?”
He let out a frustrated breath. “I can’t meet my time with the bunker drill anymore. Cap says I can’t get in the field until I can successfully do it three more times.”
“A’ight. Let me see you run the drill. I’ll give you my advice after I’ve seen your time.”
A hint of relief crossed Charles’s face as he nodded.
“Okay.”
While Charles went back to the training center, I grabbed my bottle of water and towel.
I strolled through the fire station, admiring the place I’d given fourteen years of my life to.
I’d joined the fire department at nineteen years old—after years of being in trouble and hanging around the wrong crowds.
If it weren’t for Captain Henry Moore, I would have probably been another statistic of Black men in prison or dead in a ditch.
When I made it to the training center, I opened the door. Charles had the bunker drill set up and was ready to go.
“A’ight, Charles. Let’s see what the deal is.” I pulled out my phone and opened the timer.
“Thank you again for helping me, Flame.”
I gave a discreet nod of my head, and Charles took off. I could see the wheels turning as he went through each step of the drill.
“C’mon, probie!” I shouted.
Each time he ran the drill, he came in almost two minutes behind the required time.
Charles let out a frustrated breath. “What am I doing wrong?” He threw his helmet at the wall and buried his face in his hands.
“Stop throwing tantrums and pick up your helmet.”
Charles ran his hands down his face. “Sorry. I’m just so tired of giving my all and still not being good enough.”
“That’s your problem, Charles. You’re in your head.
You’re wasting time by thinking about your next steps.
Run it without a timer. Run the exercise until you’re no longer thinking about the next step and it comes naturally to you.
Once your body knows the order without hesitation, you’ll make your time,” I advised.
Charles nodded. “How long do I have to practice before it becomes natural? How long did it take you?”
“Honestly, it took me almost two years to get out of my probationary period. Not because I couldn’t do the drill, but I was here for all the wrong reasons.” I chuckled.
When I first came to the fire department, I was a liability to everyone—including myself.
I was a hotshot young man with a chip on my shoulder and a vendetta against the world.
Life was unfair to me, and I got caught up in the wrong crowd.
I’d seen my father die and countless peers succumb to the dangers of the streets.
Captain Moore saw something in me and took me under his wing.
He tried to nip the shit in the bud, but I needed a lot of tough love to break me out of old habits and vices.
Captain Moore became the father figure I didn’t know I needed until he stepped up.
“Thank you for helping me, Flame. It means a lot to have someone show they care about my success.”
I smiled. “Of course, kid. If you need any more help, just shoot me a call.”
“Will do.”
I left the training room and went into the lounge. The lounge was spacious. There were several couches, televisions, and amenities, including two pool tables, a large home style kitchen, and several tables.
On my way to a couch, I grabbed an apple from the dining table and plopped onto the soft cushion. As I bit into the juicy fruit, I propped my feet up on the coffee table.
“Where have you been, Flame?” Juliet asked as she joined me on the couch.
“Worked out, then helped probie with his bunker drill. Poor dude’s in his head.”
“He had amazing times during his exams. I think he came in at forty-five seconds in his official drill. I don’t know why he isn’t hitting his mark anymore.” Connor joined in.
“The anxiety of wanting to be on his first call in the field. It’s one thing to do for the exam. It’s another to be in the real world and wanting to get out there and help,” Bradlee added as he joined our small circle.
Juliet, Connor, Bradlee, and I were usually on the same shift at station 143.
The 143 was family, no matter which shift we were on, though.
We put our lives on the line every day to protect the citizens of Cade’s Cove.
We were at a large station in the heart of Downtown Cade’s Cove.
With eight large trucks, four ambulances, and a slew of perks sponsored by the elite citizens of the city, we prided ourselves on our response times to emergencies.
Captain Moore walked into the lounge area. His shoulders were rigid, and his eyes were dark.
“Everything good, Cap?” I asked as I took another bite from my apple.
He nodded. “Yeah. I’m all good, Flame.”
The grimace on his face went against the statement his mouth made, but I wouldn’t pry in front of the others.
Before I could get up, the alarms went off.
“One-four-three, you know the drill.”
We all moved quickly and efficiently to our stations to prepare to head out on the next emergency.
The adrenaline I felt when on a high stakes call made my heart rapidly beat and my soul dance. Saving lives was my calling. Being amid danger gave me a high even the strongest drugs couldn’t replicate.
We moved with precision and haste during a six-car pileup.
In teams of two, we each went to a different part of the wreckage to extract, triage, and more.
Most of the extractions were easy. A few strong pulls and passengers were free.
The worst of the damage came from the middle of the wreck.
In a small sedan, a family of five struggled to get out.
I heard the husband first.
“Help!”
“CCFD, we’re here to help,” Cap called out.
“Help, please. My wife—my children . . .” The strain in his voice pulled at my heartstrings.
“Don’t move, sir. We’re going to secure the car and do our best to get y’all out of there safely.” Cap continued.
We looked at the damage to the car. The passenger side pressed against the trunk of the car in front of it. The driver’s side of the car took heavy damage. Glass from the windows were shattered.
We went into action. We had to bring out the jaws of life and spinal boards in case any of them sustained any serious injuries. There were a lot of sparks flying, machines roaring, and people crying.
“Daddy!” A shriek came from the back seat.
“It’s okay, baby girl. These amazing firefighters are here to help. Please listen to them. They’re doing their job, okay?”
She whimpered softly. “Okay, Daddy.”
“Hey, pretty girl. What’s your name?” Juliet asked as she checked the little girl’s vitals.”
“Savannah.”
“You have a beautiful name, Savannah. My name is Juliet, and I’m going to get you and your siblings out of here, okay?” Juliet asked.
Savannah nodded softly. “Okay.”
While Juliet worked on getting Savannah out, Connor and Bradlee worked on getting the wife out of her seat. The woman had been going in and out of consciousness since we’d arrived.
“Ma’am?” Connor called out.
“Honey!” the man in the driver’s seat shouted.
I stepped in. “What’s your name, sir?”
“Jared.” He tried to crane his neck to see his wife, but the pain coursing through his body made him wince.
“Sit tight for us, Jared. We’re going to get you and your family out quickly and efficiently. These nice paramedics are going to make sure you don’t have any bleeds or damage to sensitive areas while we work on getting the bent metal out of the way.”
Jared nodded slightly as a few of our paramedics went to work to assess his injuries.
We moved in record speed to free the other four members out of the car.
Luckily, the children only had minor scrapes and bruises.
Jared’s wife sustained a head injury that would need to be monitored for the threat of a concussion.
She also had a few broken ribs, but we were all sure she would make a full recovery.
“I’m-m-m s-s-s-o c-c-c-cold.” Jared shivered uncontrollably. The chatter of his bottom lip filled the air with each word he pushed out through his teeth. The color in his face drained as he looked ghostly pale under the heavy lights we had set up.
“Cap! He’s lost a lot of blood. The metal is piercing a major artery. If we don’t move him now, he’s going to code.” Penny watched Jared’s vitals hit alarming numbers.
“All hands on deck. Get the spinal board ready. Flame, cut the metal off the car, but we won’t remove it from his body.
We’re going to transport it with him in the ambulance.
Graves, call CCG and let them know the severity of the situation.
CCFD, keep a level head and let’s save this man’s life.
” Captain Moore’s voice was even and firm.
The confidence he had in his station resonated through every command he called out.
We moved like a well-oiled machine. We got Jared into the ambulance with stable vitals within six minutes.
He even offered a reassuring smile before we closed the doors, and they hauled him off to the closest emergency room.
Once we moved the critical patients out of the way, we worked diligently to get the wrecked vehicles moved off the tollway. One of the Cade’s Cove police officers redirected traffic an exit back, so the aftermath wasn’t too bad.
We loaded up the trucks and headed back to the station, happy with the outcome of the call tonight. As Cade’s Cove’s nightlife passed by in a blur, I reminisced about my life as a firefighter.
My first introduction to firefighting came at the young age of eleven years old. The house was quiet as we all slept soundly in our rooms. I remember being woken up by the cries of my sister instead of the smoke alarm.
Smoke filled every room. I could still feel the burn of the smoke in my lungs as I called out for help. The doorknob was too hot to open. The fear immobilized me. It felt like an eternity before the door was pushed open and the firefighter came to my rescue.
“Where’s my sister? Is my mommy and daddy okay?” I remember asking through fits of coughs as the firefighter carried me to the awaiting ambulance to be looked over.
I watched as two other firefighters escorted my older sister and mother out of the house. Relief washed over me only briefly as the home I’d known blew up in flames with my father still inside.
Gary Gilliam wasn’t a perfect father in the slightest. He was strict, old school, and mission oriented. He showed affection to my mother but often treated me and my sister like a burden he was tired of carrying. He was still the man I looked up to.
It turned out a rival gang member started the fire. The craziest part of the whole situation was I didn’t even know my father was into gang activity until the detectives explained the ongoing rivalry to my mother a few weeks later.
Something in me shifted that day. I vowed to be a better man for my family and community. I wanted to pour into the city that raised me despite how unforgiving the streets were.
I had saved thousands of lives since I joined the fire department, and I planned to save thousands more before I took my final breath, when God decided to call me home.