I dreamed I
went to a fire last night and it was great. I was back at my old house, the
Hero House 7’s and with my old crew. We were sitting around the kitchen as
always when the bell went off. Single family structure with possible trapped
occupants.
We bolted
to the truck and there was gear sitting right next to the back right door, the
back right door is right behind the officer, kinda a place of prestige, the
senior plugger gets that seat. That way at the scene the officer and the senior
plugman can face to face before we go to work.
I pulled my
gear on like an old lover embraces their true love. They felt heavy and warm
and smelled of the last fire. We were fast last night in my dream and the big
red truck roared to life as we slammed our doors shut. I slid my arms into the
straps of my air pack, another warm embrace, my heart pounded like a teenager
going for their first kiss.
It was such
a familiar hug as I pulled my straps tight I was thrilled. We all had on our
headsets on and the preplanning started. As we left the station we had a visible
header in the distance and it was black and nasty looking, a small volcano
awaited us. Man that gets you going, your head swims with what you will do. What
will it be like? How to attack and which way to attack?
Freddy the
lieutenant started.
“Okay boys we
have a worker it’ll be a fast attack and let’s find out if we got people
inside.” He grabbed his mic and called dispatch.
“Dispatch
from engine seven, we have a header let’s go ahead and tap a second alarm on
this.” Freddy had an instinct for knowing at a distance what he needed and more
help was always welcome, as long as they got there just a few minutes after we
did, first due is the bomb. That’s what you want, that’s when your metal is
tested the most, just you and your boys and the beast.
“TimO take
the new guy with you, keep him close, and Chippy (the new guys nickname) you
stick with TimO no freelancing you got me?”
“Yes sir.” Answered
Chippy. I looked at him winked, smiled and gave him a big thumbs up.
“That’s why
we are here kid. Let’s just go to work you’ll do fine.”
We made a right
turn and there it was a freaking mansion, but there were no mansions in this
neighborhood, dream thing I guess. The fire was already blowing out the front
windows and a group of Wavers and Pointers were at the curb showing us the
obviously raging fire.
“Take the
front door TimO with a fast attack and see if you can get it knocked a bit.” Said
Freddy, he never barked orders he had a very calm way of leading.
The Wavers
and Pointers included some family and they said two children were still inside.
Chippy and I were stripping hose and stretching it to the front door. The door
was an easy pop and as we crouched low the fire surrounded us, washed over us. Strange
how welcome that felt in the dream. We went in low crawling heavy smoke and
heat greeted us, but that dim glow of orange in the distance gave us a target.
We made
some rain as we call it; you point your hose at the ceiling above the fire and ricochet
the water down on to the fire, at the same time the greatest heat is at the
ceiling level so it turns to steam condenses on the ceiling and makes “Rain”.
I had
Chippy in front of me on the nozzle; I always liked my new guys in front of me
just in case they felt like back up a little, fire can do that to you.
Then all of
the sudden the Truckies were there, I knew all the faces, some were even dead
guys I knew from years ago, but in the dream they were young and strong and
brave one more time.
“You got
this?” asked a dead man.
“We got it
Cap.” I answered and old friend that had passed years ago, he seemed to know he
was in a dream too, his eyes were bright with life and energy as if he was
thanking me for bringing along.
“We’ll get
the kids then.” And he and a bunch of other dead men crawled past me and up a
staircase. Now it was the job of me and Chippy to protect their exit, we had to
get a good knock down so the staircase would hold.
I pushed
Chippy forward by the collar.
“We gotta
get in there kid.” We crawled on our hands and knees dragging the hose, it was
so heavy with water and friction; it was like taking an elephant for a walk. The
floor was so hot it burned my knees right through my gear and I loved it, I was
so alive right then. We made the seat of the fire and killed it quick with our
sword of water. But the fire had extended into the floor above us.
Out of our
reach and if it was under the staircase the staircase could fail. Our low air
alarms began to sound, but the Truckies hadn’t appeared yet.
“We have to
go.” Yelled the panicked new guy.
“Not yet
kid, we got guys up there.” The wait was strange for me in the dream, I soaked
it in, the smells, the heat, the noise, my old life had come to visit once
again, it was fresh for a moment. I cried.
Then the
dead guys appeared again, each had a child in his arms and a huge smile on his
faces, one last rescue for them too I guess. Each gave me a nod, and then my
alarm went off.
