Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kate
“Yo, Newbie. You ready to do this?” Jackson calls as we pull up to the scene of my first active fire. It’s a two-story structure with smoke billowing out of the eaves. It’s going to be hot as hell in there. “Let’s rock and roll!” he shouts, like he’s done every time we’ve gotten a call.
Adrenaline from being woken from a dead sleep courses through my system, making my already shaking knees nearly give out as I step out of the cab. I’m equal parts scared shitless and ready to test my skills.
“You got this, Kate,” he says with all seriousness, and I realize I’ve done that speaking-my-thoughts-out-loud thing again. His confidence in me does little to settle my nerves.
We’re the second crew on scene; the first is already inside on initial attack. A two-inch hose dissects the yard, and smoke billows from the upstairs windows. Leo and his partner are set up as our rehab station, and deputies have the area blocked off to prevent bystanders from approaching.
The scene is controlled chaos, and it feels so different from what I’m used to. In the past, I’d be on the outside looking in. Now I’m right in the thick of it.
“Daddy!” The high-pitched wail breaks my panic at the thought of running into that inferno. A young girl sobs uncontrollably in her mother’s arms.
Over the radio, the scene commander relays the possibility of victims still inside, and the chaos shifts into overdrive.
In a flash, I have a moment of understanding of the panic Vaughn’s father must’ve felt when he realized his wife was trapped.
It’s bad with this stranger, and I can’t fathom the terror he must’ve felt in those moments.
As quickly as the thought passes through, I recall my focus, narrowing it to the here and now.
Jackson morphs from exuberant go-getter to focused, calm determination.
“You ready?” My friend looks at me, all business.
I shove down the nerves that make me want to hurl. I will not vomit in my breathing apparatus. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”
As scared as I am, I take a step toward the house.
Glass shatters.
Fire blasts out of a front window.
Radio traffic explodes.
“Victim is possibly on the second floor. Hawthorne, you’re with us,” Cal calls, grabbing a ladder from the back of the engine. I grab the Halligan tool and let adrenaline take over.
As I scramble up the ladder, the ground crew hits the fire with a blast of water, making thick smoke and steam billow into the night sky.
The house has a multipitch roof, but on this side, there’s a dormer window.
I’m already taking a step toward it when it hits me that I should probably check in with Cal first. I look back over my shoulder to find him right on my heels.
“Don’t overthink it. Go for it, Kate. We’ll follow your lead.”
Bolstered by the confidence of my crew, I shove the axe through the windowpane and yank out the blinds.
My friends are behind me as I fold through the window. They keep up a constant stream of chatter as we drop to our knees to search the room. It’s so dark I can barely see in front of me. Fire roars in the hall, rolling and undulating across the ceiling.
We don’t have much time until it overtakes this room too. Keeping a hand on the wall on my left side, I orient myself.
Jackson is to my right; Cal is behind me.
I push forward.
Feeling for my surroundings, I inch forward, crashing my shoulder into something solid. It gives under my weight, and I stumble forward, nearly face-planting.
A door. If I can get it closed, it’ll give us that much more time to search.
I push against the solid panel and almost have it closed when it jolts to a stop.
“Fuck,” I scream into the void. We are running out of time to find this man.
I surge around the edge to see if I can remove the barrier.
A man’s bare foot blocks the doorway. If I’d gotten it closed… I block the thought and fall back on my training.
“Victim, victim, victim,” I yell into the confines of my mask.
He’s face down on the carpet, unconscious.
With every ounce of strength I can muster, I pull him into the safety of the room and away from the blazing hallway.
Jackson gets the door closed as Cal rolls the victim over. “I’ve got a pulse, but it’s faint.”
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Jackson yells, making a clear path for us to maneuver through, while Cal relays information to command.
It takes two of us to get the victim to the window, and a secondary team outside hauls him to safety. By the time I reach the ladder to climb down, my legs tremble with the effort to keep me upright. Still, I rush over to the ambulance, mind racing with the next steps.
But as I round the back of the bus, I spot Leo and his new partner working the guy. Leo’s got his frustrated face on as he directs the guy on how best to assist.
“You’re gonna wanna get your shit together if you don’t want your ass cussed out,” I warn the younger medic.
Leo shoots me a frown of disapproval and continues to work on the patient. I take pity on his partner and point at what I know Leo’s going to want.
“Thanks,” Leo barks. “Now get your nasty, sooty ass out of my bus and let me get this guy to the hospital.”
I jump down and catch sight of the young medic crawling into the front seat as I close the doors. A part of me feels wrong not going with Leo. Watching them drive away without me challenges my natural instincts.
I should be driving him in.
“Yo, Rookie,” Jackson calls from the back of the firetruck, where he’s resting with his hands on his knees. The fire is contained; all our personnel are safe. And hopefully we got the father out in time.
I join Jackson at the back of the engine and collapse on the bumper next to him.
“Good job in there, Kate.” He’s not one to be overly serious, but something in his tone catches my attention. When I meet his gaze, he nods at me, holding out a fist to bump. “Helluva good job.”
* * *
“This sucks,” I gripe to anyone who will listen as we complete our overhaul of the structure. I’m hungry and hot and so ready for a hot shower and a nap I can’t even see straight.
“This is the not-so-fun part of the job,” Cal replies as he busts through some Sheetrock, checking to make sure no embers linger in hidden spots. “Saw you helping Leo’s new guy out. You missing the bus?”
“Right now? Hell yes.”
That earns a chuckle from my friend. “Think you made the right choice coming to the fire side now that you’ve got your cherry popped?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that I know what I’m doing on the ambulance.” I shove my tool into the ceiling, and a shower of trash rains down on us. “It felt weird watching them drive away.”
“There’s no reason you can’t ride with him again.
You can be a medic and a firefighter. They’re always looking for people certified to ride both.
Though, I will say. You did a good job on your first fire.
Much better than the last call we ran together.
Least your ass didn’t land in the hospital this time. ”
Jerk. But I chuckle along with him. I don’t mind the ribbing the guys are giving me. I’m sure I’ll have earned a new nickname from that incident. But the whole time we work, I can’t get Leo off my mind. Can’t shake the feeling of how wrong it felt to fight my instinct to help that man.
It makes me wonder if I’ve made a huge mistake in this career change.