Wax

Twenty Two

All at once there was a ringing in my head, accompanied by the distant sound of sirens in the air; other stations sending their engines and ladders for backup, red and blue lights and the sharp, angry blast of noise whenever the police were nearby.

I'd left Chicken at home.

It would've been dangerous to top the speed I was already going at but I did anyway. It's not every day that shit hits the fan and you come back home to see your apartment building up in flames. At least that's not what I hope is happening.

Twelve wouldn't allow that. Not under our watch.

"Fire twelve engine twelve ladder twelve engine two fire nine engine nine engine three rescue one truck one mobile air one battalion one truck three battalion three and rehab seven for a structural apartment fire East Dulwich—"

I tuned out of dispatch and into station twelve's channel.

"—attack crew Zales and Hugh. Vent crew Park and Vance. Backup crew Jung and RIC crew Jack. Fire's coming from floor five, left-most unit. Interior attack on what seems to be a kitchen fire in the back. Could be a faulty gas line so watch out for flashovers. Forcible entry. Forcible entry. There are victims trapped. Rescue's in three minutes. We need ladders on all units at the back. All stations assist with evacuation of lower floors. Jaeger, mid-unit search, come in."

I didn't even park. My bike was left around the corner right before the road that was blocked off by backup and some of the crew members from other stations recognized me, shouting for chief who jerked a thumb at our truck.

There was noise. It didn't do well with the smell of ash and burnt plastic in the air and the assault of red, blue and white lights flashing with the sound of a woman screaming and a child crying. I was in full gear, checking my oxygen tank and grabbing whatever I was going to need for rescue because three minutes was not going to cut it. Chief was going to have to send some of us in and by the looks of it, Jaeger had been put on primary search and rescue before everyone else.

"Cox, I need you on ladder from the back, you hear?" "Engine nine where's the water can we get some water going on the side window now or attack and vent can't get the front door open. Ten seconds after the front door we'll get the front window pane open and check for victims." "Fifth floor mid-unit search, come in." "Cox. Ladder. Now."

"I'm here." I check in on the radio, godspeed towards the back where ladder was and where the windows lined up. The fire was coming from the unit beside mine; the one with the girl and her mother. Sometimes, grandparents. "There's a dog in the mid-unit. Jaeger come in."

Out front, chief was calling out black smoke and winds that were picking up, which meant that if we didn't hurry, the fire was going to spread in no time. It was dark out with limited lighting so I couldn't access the damage to the outer walls of the building in full.

On the other side where the open stairwell was, stations were helping out with evacuating residents on the lower floors. Jaeger was assigned to search the other unit on the fifth floor. Which was mine. And he hadn't come in.

"Cox, get up to the mid-unit through the window and check in. Jaeger, do not exit from the front door. I repeat, do not exit mid-unit front door winds have picked up fire is spreading I need water down the side of—ma'am. Yes, we're... Zales we've got confirmation on three trapped victims. One adult female. One elderly female. One child."

Engine nine was in charge of operating the aerial in the back for Jaeger to hop on and there was another, still in the process of positioning, meant to bring the rescue team for the unit on fire up to the fifth floor.