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TUCKER
The thump of my feet and the whir of the treadmill motor lull me into the zone as I run. Sam and Daniel are across the room bench pressing together. We don’t have set times for our workouts, but there’s enough of us around to guarantee a partner whenever you need one.
We also keep our workouts light so we’re not exhausted if we get called out. The goal is to keep our muscles primed and ready to go so we’re not caught out of breath if we need to climb three flights of stairs with a body on our shoulder.
After slowing the belt down and jumping off of the treadmill, I wipe the sweat off my brow with a towel and take a drink of water. I’m still trying to work off all of the calories I ate over Thanksgiving. Aunt Jenny made a huge meal for the three of us with all of the trimmings. I missed getting to see Natalie, but it sounded like she had a good time with Sara’s family.
Dating Natalie these last few weeks has been incredible. I’ve never had this much fun with another person or wanted to spend every waking moment with them either. She makes my life so much better, and the days I don’t get to see her feel like something is missing.
I walk to our showers and quickly rinse off. There’s nothing worse than getting a call right after a workout. You have to wear all of your gear right after you just sweated everywhere. It’s disgusting.
Once I’m cleaned up, I walk into our lounge area. It has several comfy chairs and a couple of beat-up couches facing a flat-screen TV. A few of the guys are watching hockey while others are playing a card game. We’ve already had dinner, and this is the time when things can get a little boring. All of our training, chores, and checks are done for the day, so now all we have to do is wait for a call to come in.
I flop down in a chair next to the guys who are playing cards.
“You don’t have anything in your hand right now, Rodney. I know your tells,” Charlie taunts.
“Whatever, I don’t have any tells. You’re just trying to psych me out.” They’re playing poker, and while it’s all fake money, the rounds can still get pretty competitive. We even have a sign on the wall saying, Remember, this game isn’t real!.
“You guys talk too much for me,” Rick says.
“You knew this about us already, Rick.” Charlie grins at him.
“I still have no idea what I’m doing. How do you guys manage to rope me into these games?” Taylor, one of our paramedics, asks. His face is a mask of confusion as he looks around the table then back at his cards.
Sam, who's dealing right now, turns over the river and everyone goes around betting again. Charlie is a shark. I very rarely play with her because she will beat you handily every time. Rodney is always a glutton for punishment and plays any time she does.
He puts up a front like he hates when she wins, but I think he's proud of her. He and Rick have been with the SFD the longest. A lot of our guys are in their late twenties and early thirties, but Rodney and Rick are what we call our lifers. They’ll be smoke eaters until they physically can’t anymore.
The intercom buzzes and everyone stills. “Engine 15, Truck 20, Ambo 6, Large structure fire at 32 East Oak Street.”
“That’s the rec center,” Rodney says as we all jump up from our chairs, hustling out to the engine bay.
The rec center is a huge building, and this will take every man we have on shift. Potentially all of our paid on-call guys as well, depending on how out of hand it is.
The good news is it’s after hours, so there shouldn’t be many people, if any, in the building.
We jump into the truck, and Daniel maneuvers us out of the bay and onto the street. The siren blares into the quiet evening; we don’t say much as we drive. Large structure fires test every guy on shift and can sometimes push us to our limits. It’s imperative to get into the right frame of mind to better handle the heavy stress load.
Daniel pulls into the parking lot, the fire blazing bright, illuminating the sky orange as it flickers and burns.
“Jesus, this is big,” Daniel says quietly.
“Engine 15 to dispatch,” I call into the radio.
“Go ahead, Engine 15.”
“We’re going to need all hands on deck.”
“Copy that, the on-call list has been activated.”
Daniel parks the truck and everyone jumps out, moving in coordination with each other. This is why all of our training is so important. There has to be a lot of trust built up within your team because we don’t have time to ensure each person is doing their job correctly.
“Sam, Brody, and I will gear up and clear the structure for anyone inside. Charlie, Rodney, and Rick, get started on the blaze. Truck 20 and Chief James should be here momentarily to give you a hand.”
“On it, Cap,” they all respond in unison.
Sam, Brody, and I pull on our air tanks and masks to head inside. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Truck 20 pull in with a team of six guys. They’re the station right on the highway between Westlake and Sonoma. Chief James also pulls into the parking lot, and I know he’ll take over leading the guys out here so we can get inside.
