Fire Call

Kevin and his crews answer a call to assist at a structure fire. To rescue one of their own, they must put their lives ont he line

 

Fire Call

 

“Car 1, Engine 1, Engine 2, Tanker 1, Rescue 2, Station 1, Ambulance 11A-1, Ambulance 11A-2, Medic 1100, Structure fire FM 299 at Highway 41.”

Kevin had just hung up the phone as the tones sounded. Normally the ambulances would not be dispatched to a fire scene unless there were confirmed patients at the time the 911 call was made. Kevin could picture the location in his mind. The house at this corner was a large farmhouse. It was a wood frame structure which had survived several major storms including hurricane Alecia and most recently Katrina and Wilma.

The response times on this call were critical. Fire spreads rapidly in a wood frame structure, especially one as old as this house. Kevin pulled in behind the chief’s car and was followed by the first engine company. The fire chief contacted Kevin to request he run escort for the fire apparatus as they negotiated traffic in the city. If you could have fun running emergency traffic through city traffic, escort to Kevin was fun. Blocking intersections and racing ahead to the next set of traffic signals or stop signs was a challenge, but it was dangerous as well.  

Once they were clear of the city traffic and into less populated areas, Kevin stretched the legs of his supervisor vehicle to lead his units into this scene. The fire chief established the command post as they arrived at the scene. Upon arrival, the second and third floors of the house were fully involved.

“Medic 1100 on the scene with Fire Command.”

“Copy 1100, all units, contact Fire Command for scene control.”

“Kevin, we’ve confirmed people are trapped in the back of the house. We’ve got little to no water pressure, so it’s making our job harder but we are making our way to them now. Have your units set up for triage.   Do you have air packs?”

“We’ve got two on my unit. Reggie and I can make entry with a couple of your men.”

“We can use the help. These guys are laying a red line now. Follow them in with an inch and a half for back up. Don’t get separated in there.”

Kevin heard the second and third alarms sound for this scene. At this point, with the fire out of control and knowing patients were inside this inferno, all the medics could do was sit and wait. Each medic had donned full turnout gear as a safety precaution, but they could not get to the patients.

“Reggie, let’s get the air packs,” Kevin ordered. “You and I are going in with the next hose crew.”

Reggie and Kevin were the only medics on the scene with fire fighting experience. They were also fire rescue specialists and Reggie was working out his plan to enter the house. 

Kevin and Reggie teamed up with two firefighters and were able to make entry into the side of the house. The fire had not reached this part of the house, but the smoke was heavy and filled the small entry way and hall. They eased themselves along the floor in almost swimming motions in an effort to find anyone unfortunate enough to still be inside. 

They continued up the small, narrow hallway and checked each door. The closer they got to the center of the house, the hotter each room became. Kevin checked a small closet and found an adult victim. He was quite heavy, but with the adrenalin pumping, Kevin was able to lift him onto his shoulders and move him to the nearest window. One of the firefighters notified his captain they had found one victim and there were hands at the window to take the elderly gentleman from Kevin. 

Reggie located a female victim shortly after Kevin’s discovery. The small frail woman had placed a scarf around her face to keep the smoke away, but she had been overcome by the heavy smoke and was unconscious. Reggie found Kevin’s exit window and crews began to work on her as soon as he was able to lower her to them. 

Kevin located the family’s two dogs and was able to carry them to safety. His alarm sounded as he began another sweep of the room, but he didn’t want to give up his search. Kevin felt there was another victim on the lower floor. He found a younger female, maybe a granddaughter of the couple, but still adult size and weight. She was responsive, but she was not able to provide Kevin with much help as he carried her to the window and to safety. He took another deep breath and his tank ran out. Kevin reached for the reserve knob and found it in the on position. He again sucked against a dry tank and quickly removed the hose from the now empty air pack and placed the end into his turnout gear. He hated to exit the search, but he was out of air. 

One of the firefighters joined Kevin as they exited the burning building. Kevin had all intents of going back in the house with a fresh air pack, but the captain was pulling everyone out.

“Kevin, I heard something in that room close to the front. There’s still someone inside. We need to go back in.”

“You boys sure you want to go back in there?”

“It’s not want to Cap. We have to,” Reggie said. Kevin could feel the drive in Reggie’s voice as they checked their gear. At that point, Reggie would have walked through the fires of Hell itself if it meant finding someone alive.

Before Kevin could gather his gear and return, several loud crashes were heard from inside the building.   A fire crew had advanced to the second floor landing, but they lost water pressure and were beating a hasty retreat from the building with no water to cover their exit. A portion of the third floor collapsed as they ran from the building.  

“Top floors are collapsing, everyone out, and out now,” he ordered. “I repeat everyone out now!.”

Kevin looked around to account for the patients and his partner. Randy and Joyce were working on the elderly woman, Leslie and Antony were taking care of the younger woman, Jerry and Andrew were covering Kevin’s first patient with a sheet. During the confusion, Reggie had made his way back inside the burning building. 

“Randy, get a pack and come with me. Reggie’s still inside that house.”

Kevin had secured a full air pack as Randy pulled on his gear. 

“Boys, I can’t let you go back in there. I’ve pulled my men out, it’s too dangerous. The third floor is already partially down and the rest could come down any second.”

“Captain, one of my men is in there. What would you do?”

The captain didn’t bother with an answer. He grabbed an air pack and slung it over his shoulder as he motioned to one of his men. “Let’s go! Medic inside, let’s get him out!” The captain grabbed another air pack to carry inside. “He’s out of air by now, he’ll need this. Let’s go!”

Joyce knew she needed to airlift the patients from this fire. They were all overcome with smoke and in need of a hyperbaric chamber, the nearest of which was at least an hour away. She made the decision and requested a second helicopter when she saw Kevin and Randy go back into the burning building. She offered up a prayer that it wouldn’t be needed for the medics.

Kevin was immediately hit by a blast of super hot air. The fire had been held back by the hoses when they made their first entry, but now the fire had been set free and was hungrily devouring everything in its path.   It was advancing on them very quickly and the hoses were only providing enough protection to keep them from getting burned. 

As they opened a previously unsearched room, Reggie burst through the door. He was staggering from the heat and exhaustion, but he carried a small bundle in his arms. He waved Kevin off as he tried to help him changed tanks. 

“Let’s go, they’ve still got a chance!” Reggie yelled. He tried to run towards the window they used earlier, but the collapsing ceiling blocked their exit. Fire was closing in from all sides. 

The captain started pushing them towards the front of the house. Fire blocked the path to the front hall, but he kept pushing them, forcing them to run. The fire hose offered some protection, but the heat was getting more and more intense. Kevin broke through the wall of fire first. It wasn’t very large, and not extremely high, so he managed to cross the flames easily enough. He was met with a blast of water as he made it closer to the front door and safety. Randy, the captain and both firefighters followed. The captain was yelling to keep moving and not look back.

Kevin felt heat coming quickly from the rear. He had seen this before, but only in movies. The fire was about to flash and engulf the rest of the house. Kevin took a chance and dove for the door. His momentum carried him through the storm door and across the front porch. He quickly rolled to his feet and continued to put distance between himself and the inferno behind him. He checked over his shoulder and saw Randy and the rest of the firefighters diving in all different directions as flames closed the exit. 

Reggie had, for some unknown reason, still not made it to the front of the house. Fire hoses were trained on the front entrance but low water pressure had been and continued to cause problems. They simply could not sustain adequate water flow to douse the flames.   Kevin searched the windows and doors for any sign of his partner. 

After what seemed to be an eternity, Reggie broke through the wall of flames, still clutching the bundle of blankets. Firefighters close to Reggie’s exit trained their hoses on him to cool the turn out gear and extinguish a small fire on his leather fire helmet. The blankets he carried were singed and smoking. 

Kevin immediately went to Reggie’s aid and tried to take the blankets from him to see what he had been trying to save. In the house, Reggie had said they still had a chance. 

Reggie refused to give up. He knew they had a chance and he had risked his life to be sure they had that chance. He had too much training and too many years of service not to try. He opened the blankets and laid the two infants on the nearest stretcher. He ripped his helmet off and furiously began mouth to mouth on one of the small bodies. Kevin immediately began to work on the second infant. Reggie worked until he was simply overcome with fatigue and emotions when Randy took over from him. Randy looked to Kevin who slowly shook his head as he continued to work on the second infant.

LifeFlight had landed earlier for additional manpower and the crews here needed a break in the worst way.   Amanda and her partner took over from the ground ambulance crews. Their job was done and they had done more than enough. Amanda loaded the infants into her helicopter and they were airborne within seconds. 

Exhausted by the heat and adrenalin, Reggie sat on the back on the nearest ambulance and placed his head in his hands. He was far from caring a news crew had a camera close by. Valerie Stephens from News 1 was trying to report the incident, but one look at the huge Texan’s face caused her to freeze in her tracks. Tears streaked Reggie’s face as he watched the helicopter lift off, and the despair on his face put her at a loss for words. 

“You did your best,” was all Kevin could say. He too was totally exhausted from intense heat and emotions. He sat beside Reggie and wished LifeFlight a safe trip over his hand held radio. 

Valerie was on air and she was giving the station dead air. She couldn’t speak. She could barely hear Jess’s voice in her headset. Finally, she found her voice again, but it wasn’t her normal, business, this is the news voice. She reported the rest of the story in a shaking and at times very tearful voice.

“Jess, what we have witnessed here was just incredible. The fire fighters here have had to battle low water pressure which prevented them from extinguishing the flames engulfing this house behind us. Paramedics joined the Fire Rescue team inside this inferno and removed five people from the burning building. One was pronounced dead at the scene, two were airlifted to the Trauma Center in Galveston and we have just witnessed an incredible rescue attempt by this Medic we see on the back of this ambulance. He apparently found two infants in the burning house and initiated CPR on them, but as we see and feel from the mood here, any hope of saving the lives of those two infants is very slim. The emotions here are very real, very electric and very, very contagious.”

Another look at Reggie’s face and Valerie called for a cut to commercial. She too was overcome by the emotions and could no longer continue. As if to emphasize the futility of their efforts, a small stuffed animal could be seen near the entrance of the house. The camera zoomed on the light brown teddy bear as it slowly burned. There was no water available to stop the flames.