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“Can you ask if she knows where the others might be?” With how quickly this blaze is moving, I’m not sure we’ll have time to check all of the rooms.
“She doesn’t know.”
“Okay, get them out.”
I step into the next room and clear it as quickly as I can. I’m worried about the floor falling through as the fire down below gets larger. If our guys aren’t able to tamp down the flames quickly, we won’t make it in time.
“I’ve got another child and the second adult,” Sam says, and a breath of relief comes out of me. There’s one kid left to find, and I’ve almost cleared the last of the rooms. Let’s hope to God it doesn’t take too long.
I open the next door and tear through the room. It’s another bedroom and completely empty. I still call out as loud as I can, and I hear a muffled cry in return. I’ve already cleared this room, so it has to be coming from the next room over.
I move down to the next door and open it. Flames are licking up the side of the walls in here, the fire already burning the floor. The heat is oppressive, and without my gear on, I’d probably be passed out.
I call out in the hopes I’m in the right room, and I hear the cry again. It’s coming from my left, and I quickly open the closet door.
“Tucker, you need to get out of there. We can’t get the flames tamped down. The second floor is about to go,” Chief demands.
I ignore him for now because a little boy is huddled on the floor of the closet, looking up at me with frightened eyes. I squat down on the floor next to him and hold out my hand. “You’re going to be okay, buddy.” I can hear the creaking of the floorboards as the fire starts to take them, and I know I don’t have much time.
The little boy slowly reaches his hand out, and I grab his arm, pulling him into my arms and lifting him up.
I turn around and realize the fire has spread so much more than I anticipated. The walls around me are engulfed, and I know there’s very little time to get us out of here.
“I’ve got the final boy. What’s my exit point?” I call over the comms.
“The window you entered. The fire hasn’t made it that far yet,” Chief says. “Hurry up, Tucker.”
I step out into the hallway where the walls aren’t faring any better than in the bedroom. I start walking back the way I came, working to keep my steps as light as possible. The boy has his face turned into my coat and is completely still. I’m surprised he isn’t freaking out more, but I imagine he’s in shock at this point.
The floor suddenly drops out from underneath me, and we’re falling down to the first floor.
“Fuck!” I yell.
“Tucker! Check in,” I hear in my ear.
I realize I no longer have a kid in my arms, and I frantically look around the room, trying to find him. Flames are sparking and crackling around me as everything in the room is engulfed.
I spot a small mass across the room and run over to him, scooping him up into my arms. I search the room, trying to find an exit point, but everything is consumed by flames, and I’m not sure how to get out.
“I fell to the first floor. I’m okay, but I don’t know how to get out of here. I’ve still got the boy.”
I finally find an opening in the wall, and even though there are flames surrounding it, I have no choice but to go through. I open my jacket and do my best to cover the boy to protect him as I walk through the doorway.
The next room isn’t any better, so I look around, trying to find a window or doorway to walk through.
“Where did you fall? We’ll work from the outside to find an exit point,” Chief says.
“I’m on the east side, headed towards the middle of the building.”
In the next room, there’s a window that, while surrounded by flames, I could get out of. “I’ve got an exit point. Third room from the east side, window.”
“Copy.”
I walk over to the window, the boy still out cold in my arms. I hold onto him with one hand and grab my window punch tool in the other, breaking the glass. The fire around the window explodes outward with the intake of oxygen to the room, and I have to turn to avoid the flames.
I see my crew coming up to the window and start scraping the glass. Once it’s cleared, I hand the boy over, then climb out myself. We run over to the ambulance with the boy and get him onto a stretcher so they can start working to reverse the damage from smoke inhalation.
I stand back with the guys and let the paramedics do their thing. He’s so small, maybe four or five, and I still can’t get over how brave he was when I found him. How does a kid know what to do in a traumatic situation? I don’t think I want to know the answer.
