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When we got to the blaze, even I was shocked by the magnitude of it. The entire house was up. Bright fire illuminated the windows pouring from the openings, practically melting the wood beneath, each mass of fire writhing in the wind like some kind of banshee wailing to be set free.
The truck stopped and we all hopped out. There was a crowd of people standing in front of the house - watching, and some screaming. It was important that we zeroed in quickly on the people who might have actually lived there. It was usually easy to tell since they were emotional and visibly upset typically.
Quickly, one young woman about twenty-five or so ran up to us screaming. “Amber is still in there! I can’t find her anywhere!”
“Do you know where she might be? How old is she?”
“She is twenty. I don’t know! I fell asleep!”
The woman was screaming so loud that I could barely make out what she was saying. But I had my orders. The rest I would figure out along the way. A couple of us grabbed an axe and chopped down the door. It was so hot that it splintered easily. As it did so, a flood of black smoke began pouring out the door. I adjusted my gear and ran inside, doing my best to see through my flame retardant goggles.
I tried to keep my head low as I entered. I was inside the living room. Most of the fire seemed confined on the floor above, but I could see the ceiling starting to give way. We had to move fast. Without waiting for a backup, I hurried up the stairs expecting each step to give under my foot and my body to go crashing through the wreckage of the staircase. But I made it to the top in one piece.
“Ricky! Wait!” Toby Guiger yelled from below.
“We don’t have time!” I yelled back. It is safety 101 that we don’t head off by ourselves during a rescue. This is how people get trapped and left behind. We work together as a unit, as a team in every sin
gle thing that we do. But if this girl was anywhere inside, we had to find her fast and we had to do it now. This fire was out of control, consuming everything in its path and turning to cinders.
I knew the house would not be standing much longer.
I glanced right and left and saw what appeared to be the bedrooms on the left side. “Amber! Are you there?” I screamed.
I heard nothing as I kicked one of the doors. I anticipated that a wave of fire would come roaring out of the door at me at any moment, but so far I was being lucky. During a stressful time like this, you often had to rely on luck.
The first door was a bathroom. I tried another. An office. Nobody there. Finally, I came to a bedroom. I didn’t see anyone at first. I was ready to move on, but then I heard a soft moan. I double checked and found a young woman lying down on the floor. She was propped slightly against the bed, as if she’d tried to get out but by the time she realized that there was a fire, the smoke had engulfed her too much.
She might still be ok, but I had to get her out of there immediately.
I knelt down and slumped her over my shoulders. Then I stood up under her weight to bring her out.
Nearing the doorway, I suddenly heard loud cracks and flakes of plaster falling in front of me. I looked up and I could see flames engulfing the ceiling. Any second now it was going to collapse on us.
I hurried out of the room. “Go! The ceiling is falling!” I yelled to Toby who was just at the top of the stairs coming to offer assistance. I hurried down the stairs with the girl on my back taking two at a time right on Toby’s heels.
When we made it outside, I felt a rush of relief washing over me. I was covered in sweat. I felt my body being pushed to its limits from the extreme heat to now a more moderate air pressure of the summer. My legs felt heavy and this small woman on my shoulders suddenly weighed a ton. I carried her over to a stretcher where I noticed that she was totally out now. She wasn’t breathing anymore either. Dammit! Were we too late?
I removed my gear off my head and face and instantly started to perform CPR on her. She was not going to die on my watch; I was determined not to let that happen. Toby helped with the chest compressions. One…two…three…four…five… Breathe!
I breathed three gasps into her mouth. We continued this procedure four… five… and finally on the sixth time the woman started breathing and opened her eyes. She was gasping, terrified of what had just happened to her. My body suddenly felt exhausted as the adrenaline began to subside and relief washed through me. I thought she was going to be ok, but we definitely needed to get her to the hospital and get her checked out.
Her eyes were white and bright looking compared to the smoky, soot that was now covering her pretty face. Amber was breathing deeply and strongly, her chest heaving up and down as the panic seethed through her eyes. She’d been through quite an ordeal.
“Amber, you are going to be ok,” I said. “We got you out. You are safe.”
Hearing those words caused her to break into tears. She was so grateful. And so was I. Grateful we’d got there just in the nick of time. This poor girl had almost died. This was why I had become a firefighter.
This was why I had dedicated so much of my life and my time to this great purpose. It wasn’t always a day to celebrate, but today we’d achieved a bit of a victory. The house was a total loss, but it was just a house.
“Amber!” Her hysterical friend came over just then screaming and crying. The two girls reunited and gave each other big hugs as they shared a good cry together.
The crew fought the fire until it was finally out. Then most of us went home while they waited for the investigators to determine the root cause of the blaze. When I got back to the station, I jumped in the shower and scrubbed vigorously. The black soot from the smoke washed off my body turning the water and soap black as well. It was disgusting to look at and even after all those years when I am now used to it, it still made me cringe. It just reminded me that I had vexed a foe that had been trying to put me in the ground for too long. I knew one day, I would probably lose that fight. Any firefighter who made it through a long distinguished career without serious injury was lucky--plain and simple, no matter how skilled and knowledgeable you were.
I finished my shower and since it was the end of my shift, I said goodbye to the guys and headed home. I was tired. This job had a way of draining you dry, both physically and emotionally. No matter how much training you had, it would get you every time. Sitting around waiting for the call for sometimes days on end would wear you out, and then going for a call, fighting the fire with all that gear on you was also brutally difficult.
Amanda had always wanted me to get out and find another line of work. But this was what I was born to do. I could never see myself ever doing anything else.
I was about halfway home and looking forward to a nice, relaxing evening when my phone rang. It was Katy, my sister in law. Well, technically, she was my former sister in law since Amanda’s death. She was supposed to be picking up my daughter, Zoe. What was this about? As a father, I immediately suspected the worst, that something was wrong with Zoe.
