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Roy turned a one eighty in place, keeping a hand on a fireman's jacket for reference, and shouted again in the direction of the second side of factory ceiling walkways. He took a breath from his mask as he listened tensely for any reply. "Megan!! Shout if you can so we can find you!" He was about to motion the search team to move up to the next level when a treble echo of sound filtered through, bouncing off angles and hollows, barely audible over the snap and crackle of the nearby inferno. "Hold it. Hold it.. Did you hear that?" Roy asked the other firemen. They all nodded that they did, and the lead man started shutting off the hose to listen, too. "Megan?!" Roy shouted again, turning slightly to his left in the choking darkness. Then the cry came again, clearer and more frightened. "Help! Help! I'm over here!" "Keep shouting! We're coming!" Roy said, pulling on his mask again as they all picked up the heavy hose in double time to beat out the flames between them and the little girl. "H-Hurry.. I .. Howard's gone.. He...He slipped and fell away from me. I can't see him anywhere.." came Megan's weak, strained voice. ::She doesn't know that he was killed.:: Roy thought. ::Good.::"Megan.. what's around you?" Roy shouted at her. "We're trying to get nearer to where you are." "A roof crane is hanging down. It's got a burning box on it! I'm.. I'm scared! I want daddy.." All three men whirled, studying the flame rippling ceiling until they spotted the only ceiling lift, still swaying in the heat with a chained payload. It was sixty feet in front of them. "There.. There!" Roy pointed. They could see Megan reaching out to them from where she lay on her stomach, partially hidden in the smoke. Her white clothes stood out under their flashlights. The firemen ran. But the head hose man suddenly whirled, dropping the spraying hose to suddenly press them all back into the fiery stairwell where they had just come from. "Hold it hold it.. The floor's gone! " he shouted, urgently peeling off his steamed air mask. The others all did the same to hear and see him better as the man pointed downwards with a gloved hand. They all had come two steps away from joining Howard in death. A section of the suspended metal mesh walkway was missing, melted clean away by the intensity of the fire's heat, burning far below them. Fifteen feet of yawning space separated them from the groggy little girl. "Now what?" Roy hissed in frustration. "We don't have time to go back for any belts or rope. She isn't gonna last that long." "Let me think.." said the lieutenant who had been leading the hose team. He studied their surroundings carefully, rubbing his chin. Roy felt valuable seconds scrape by like an unwanted snowstorm. |
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As they watched and yelled out encouragements to Megan to hang on just a little longer while they figured out how to reach her, Megan's grasping hand slowly dropped as she passed out from the thickening smoke. "Megan?" Roy shouted out to her. But the little girl's tiny form, stayed still and unmoving. The swaying walkway suddenly shifted as its chains weakened and the unconscious little girl slid along the grating until her head and arms flopped over the edge of the walkway precariously, as she rolled. All the firemen on the other side flung out arms as if to catch her."Oh, no.. Don't you dare!" shouted the lieutenant, looking up. By some miracle, the large buckle on Megan's rainbow colored belt caught on a torn off bolt and halted her forward momentum before her waist, too, could go over the edge, and she jerked to a halt, her sooty blond hair swaying. The firemen let out the breaths they were collectively holding. Roy started to breathe faster in worry. He was already sweating. "Look. Let's cut our lifeline and use that to rig a harness. We can tie it off over that beam up above and swing across." he suggested, taking another breath of air from his mask. The lieutenant's head canted. "Cut our lifeline? It's our only means outta here.." "What other choice do we have?" Roy said angrily. "The next chain that snaps may be the one that dumps her. Besides, she's already out and you know how fast kids go down when they quit breathing. One of us has to get over there to her to prevent that. Now." The lieutenant no longer delayed. He got on his HT. "HT 10 to Battalion 14." ##Go, HT 10.## came the fast reply from the chief. "We've located the third victim and a child. He's the fatality that came out to you a few minutes ago and she's still inaccessible! Chief, we're going to use our buddy line to reach her.." A long pause followed over the open frequency as Battalion 14 weighed the risks. ##All right. Do what you have to do, men. I'm sending in another team to meet you with a new line that you all can follow out. What's your location?## Roy lifted his HT. "About the middle of the main room, at the top of the only metal stairway not collapsed yet. It's right above where Johnny Gage was trapped." ##10 - 4. Watch for the others and be careful. We're talking demolition out here if the fire spreads out much more than it already has. The high risk rooms are now in serious jeopardy. ## came the gruff worried reply. ## You have six minutes. Tops. Then I'm ordering you all out of there.## "Understood.." Roy answered. "We'll radio once we've gotten to her.. HT 51 out.." and he pushed down his radio antennae to shove the talkie back into his jacket. "Six minutes..." he mumbled to himself. "That's no time at all.." ------------------------------------------------------ |
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*********************************************** From: "Linda Taggatz" <doc51@att.net> Date: Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:39 pm Subject: Megan's Rescue. Outside another idea was hatched. Stoker suggested using the snorkel to rescue her. "How?' asked Captain Stanley. "By raising it to where she's caught and lowering a line down to Roy and helping him get to her. "Good idea! Let's try it." Captain Stanley got on the H.T. and requested it. The snorkel was moved into place and the line lowered to Roy. He hooked his life belt on to the line then swung across to Megan. He checked her. The pulse was faint but there. He quickly freed her and put his oxygen mask on her. Then he signaled on the H.T. for the snorkel to lift them out of there. ***************************************************** Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 06:01:11 -0700 (PDT) From: "Sam Iam" <lafddispatcher@yahoo.com> Subject: The Towering Inferno.. ::I owe someone a huge dinner for this idea.:: Roy thought as he adjusted the portable oxygen tank more firmly into the lowered stokes for Megan's emergency lift out. ::Someone was thinking on their toes when they thought of including that lifebelt, too, with the stokes. I was stupid for not bringing one in with me:: Roy sighed in relief as he hugged her against his chest. A paternal pang gripped him unexpectedly. ::She feels just like my daughter.:: came the thought, unbidden and his grip about her tightened protectively as he continued to feel how effectively she was breathing. Just as rapidly, Roy's professional side kicked in. ::Cool it! The clock is still ticking down before the chief orders that complete evac of the building. Don't lose this opportunity for Megan by getting lost in your emotions. Extricate her and move on...:: his practical mind set demanded. ::Mull over it later.:: Gasping, Roy did the work. Then he lifted his head, sighting along the swaying rope as far as he could through the column of smoke disappearing into the midnight sky. "HT 51 to Snorkel One. I've got her strapped down and on the O2!" he shouted through his own air mask over the roar of the distant fire far below. "She's breathing and set to go! Take up the slack!" And he started to hook his belt's fastener onto the stokes line. The reply back from the basket was a very welcome surprise. Mike Stoker answered, immediately easing Roy's rising stress over his still very real and present danger. But that quiet calm voice was tinged with an unmistakable stab of worry..## Affirmative, HT 51. Hold up on tandem rappelling. The snorkel engineer says we're at maximum reach and extension and on the edge for balance. We can only take your victim!## his voice crackled through the heat from the talkie's speaker. DeSoto could just imagine Stoker's masked figure leaning over the edge of the basket trying to peer down through the thick billowing smoke rising up between them. ::I wonder how he fanaggled that company for the ride up? Most likely, Cap pulled some rank because I'm still in here in the hot seat.:: Roy realized. ::They must be real tippy reaching this far over the factory to the hole in the roof. No matter. Megan's first and no one with me will debate that.:: Quickly, Roy connected the four stokes straps without hesitation and he yanked on the guide lines firmly to reinforce what he said open HT. "Understood. She's secured and good for go!" he shouted, tugging three times on her stretcher's rope over his helmet. Then he swung back across the gap using the snorkel's grace line and off the rickety walkway back to his companions in the stairwell. "They'd better move fast. If the rest of that roof goes, the sparking plume and fire resulting from that will catch them." he said to the lieutenant. The lieutenant grinned. "I'm Irish, 51. And I've got fifty saints watching over me that says that roof's gonna park until we clear ourselves completely." Roy grinned as he watched Megan's stokes get hand to hand rope lifted out of the blazing warehouse. "Make that a hundred patron saints, 10. I'm Irish, too. Come on, let's get out of here before we boil." Slowly, the three firefighting men retraced the route down through the inky smoke along the shaky gutted stairs infrastructure until they met up with the second team Battalion 14 sent in to fetch them on a new buddy line. |
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They were six strong and moving on ground level when a hail came out. "Battalion 14 to HT 51 and Snorkel 1. Got your victim clear?" ##Affirmative!## Roy replied at the same time that Stoker's voice echoed the same from the lowering basket outside. Then just as fast, a priority break-in-transmission shot over their HT open frequency with a harsh squeal. ##To all units! Get clear! Get clear! The roof's caving in over the labs! ## An immediate reply from the new firefighters with Roy and his team, anticipated Battalion 14's next hail and beat it coming. "Team Two to Battalion 14. We're ok. We're with Team One.." ##Copy..## said the chief from outside. ##Find a way outta there. The demolition crew's almost completed their setup. They have to blow their charges to snuff out that side of the fire before any of the labs integrity seals are compromised. I give you two minutes..## :: The east exit's blocked off? Oh no..:: Roy quailed in his head.::That was our only known way out.:: The lieutenant and the others pounded down the stairs, abandoning the charged water hose like a spooked puppy with a live snake. Their air bottles and tanks rattled almost as loudly as the fire's flames as they ran for their lives. Roy didn't even think about what kind of h*ll would greet them when they reached the bottom of the stairs.... The lieutenant led the way to the last landing. He paused, setting a bare hand on the door once more and feeling around on its metal surface for sensations of heat. He grimaced and pulled his hand away before he dragged it twelve inches. "It's hot.. Go back up. We'll try the dolly freight. I remember passing it just before we found this stairwell." The men ran, trusting their superior's memory of the trip in. "There..!" said the irish lieutenant, pulling off his mask and pointing. Only a little debris and a few flaming timbers lay across the door. These the firefighters kicked away and rapidly, they took out their jacket halligans and jimmeyed the double metal doors ajar to lift the cage barrier of the elevator. "In! In! We'll crank her to the ground level and wait it out!" Roy startled.. "Wait what out?" he asked. The faces on the others reflected his dismay. "The explosion.." the lieutenant said grimly. "According to my watch we have less than a minute and a half to clear, and there's no way in h*ll we're gonna do that." DeSoto nodded, biting his lip. "If we close these doors, all this metal will provide some shielding." The Lt. nodded. "Uh huh.. and it won't matter if the shaft cables snap in the concussion because we'll already be at the bottom.. Come on, put some muscle into it!" he roared at the men on top of the car, using their halligans to release the brake enough for the car to slide with a thunk to the ground stops. "Now, in!! Get that ceiling panel shut. Lock it off with a tool. The back pressure may blow it free." Soon, the freights doors were jammed tight with tools and rope and they were flung into total darkness. One of the team switched on a jacket torch and all eyes focused on where ever its beam wandered. The Lt. radioed out. "We're in the elevator shaft under shelter. Good to go." he reported to the Battalion Chief. ## Read you. Glad you thought of the shaft. Stand by.## there was a pause. ## I don't have to tell you men that you may become trapped inside of there by debris landing in front of the doors. Your air bottles may run out before we can cut you free..## "Better carrion than char, Chief.. You'll get us out. New bottles for us can be lowered down the shaft using the snorkel after the debris cloud dissipates." ##Good luck, Lt.## "Same to you. Let's hope those demolition experts really know their stuff.. Team One and Two, out." ##Battalion 14, out. Forty five seconds..## Roy felt the countdown through every fiber of his being. His thoughts turned to Joanne, Johnny and his family. He only dimly heard the lieutenant offering advice. "I've been through one of these once before. The building, if it goes down, will spare collapsing the elevator shaft like they usually do chimneys in these things. Now crouch down, and open your mouths and plug your nose or the pressure wave will shred your eardrums!" One of the younger men looked pale behind his air mask as they all placed their backs against the wall. "Will it hurt much?" he said with a brave smile. "Only if you forget to do what I just instructed." The lieutenant pulled off his mask and took in an experimental breath of air before Roy could stop him. "Air's still good. Try to conserve your bottles afterwards." he said putting his mask back on and hunkering down in his jacket and helmet. ::That's if we're still here..:: Roy's mind added mercilessly. More quiet advice, calmed him and the others. "Cover your face with your arms and huddle down. Bound to be a lot of dust. Tie off with rope if you have to. The lift may jostle more than just a little bit." Roy hooked his gloves on a grip bar above his head and held on. Tick. tick. ...tick.... ::Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen..:: thought Roy. He had been counting ever since the chief's numeric cue over the HT. DeSoto jumped when his bottle started sounding off a low air hooter. He shut his off and held his breath. ::I'll buddy breathe with someone else when this is all over.:: The men fell silent, alone with only their own thoughts as sweat fogged up their masks, rendering them blind. Roy opened his mouth...and closed his eyes. ::See you soon, Joanne. It's just another day at the office.:: Three... Two....One......... A horribly deep, gurgling growl of air belched like a demonic beast around them, heralding the arrival of destructive forces unleashed by the demolitions team. The firemen flinched as a gust of non air ripped around them from all four sides inwardly towards them. The pressure kick whitened out their retinas making them gasp in pain when an intense searing stab of yellow light preceded it. A wash of heat cooked the walls in a blast and made the men recoil from their firm surfaces as the elevator bed bounced and jerked from the brunt of the explosion. There were five blast waves, the last of which was the most violent. It left them bruised and battered. Roy opened his eyes and realized that the elevator bed had canted. "The whole shaft's been tilted. Don't touch that panel! It's sparking!" he said when he heard spitting electricity from the direction of the phone box near the floor. He felt an air mask being pressed into his gloves from a neighbor and he took a grateful breath of rushing air. He tried to pass it back but a voice said. "No, keep it. I'll share with Karl here. You need it more than I, being a medic. The situation's changed completely." "Thanks.." Roy slid the new mask back on to see through the choking dust. His hands and legs were shaking so bad with shock that he could barely move. "Sound off!" he ordered, hunting for casualities. He wondered why their team leader was so quiet. The young, scared fireman shouted. "The Lieutenant! He's down!" "Where?" |
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"Here. Follow my voice. I got my hand on his stomach." "Is he breathing?" "Yeah.." The flashlight's circle of light moved to Roy's left, illuminating a yellow Pasadena jacket. DeSoto felt up the man's neck and located a bounding carotid and another sweep of the light revealed a small bloody cut on the man's head. Roy's simple move to open the man's airway made him stir. "Easy. You're fine. You must have hit your head on a wall. It's over..." Roy soothed, he turned his head as if he could see in the thick dust floating in the air around him. "Anyone else hurt?" he asked, taking over charge of the two teams. "Say yes or no.." All "no's" spoke up in the darkness. Roy kneeled, getting closer to the lieutenant and he peeled off the man's air mask gingerly, he accepted the flashlight someone handed him and tried not to tremble. "Lieutenant?" "Please,, call me O'Malley.." he mumbled. "P-Patrick..." he groaned, keeping his eyes closed from the brightness of the torch. "Do you hurt anywhere else besides your head? Here, breathe through this mask by hand. I just had to loosen these straps so I could check you out." "I...I think I'm fine.. Just...just..not yet all there." "You just rest easy. They'll get us out in rapid order.." Roy sighed. "Try not to sleep. You may have a concussion from what I'm seeing here.." "Got it.." the man whispered. "Am I the only one with a few lumps?" Roy nodded. "Yeah.." "Good.. I'll have some battle scars to go with my other ones.. Oooo.." he said, squinching up in sudden pain. "What? Your head?" Roy asked him quickly. "No..*gasp*.. both my shoulders. Right up under my collar bone. Hurts..." ::That's belly involvement..:: DeSoto pegged immediately. Roy moved the flashlight down and several hands unbuckled O'Malley's jacket to bare the area. Roy found some dark stains spreading in the dimness. ::Blood... There's trouble here all right..:: Then his bare hand found why. Patrick had a halligan impaled through his side. "Don't move. You've stabbed yourself.." "What?" O'Malley groaned, breathing shallowly, inside his mask. "A halligan. The one from your jacket. Doesn't look too bad. Upper left quadrant. It's buried only about three inches down." "Take it out!" Patrick quailed. "Not on your life. That may be stopping a lot of internal bleeding and it probably missed everything major. I still have good pulses in your legs and the bleeding's only sluggish." DeSoto said. Patrick lay still. "Well, looks like I'll have to listen to you for the rest of this one." "Looks like. Don't worry. We both have something in common here." Roy smiled large enough for his patient to see through both their masks. "What's that?" "We're both good at not losing people. You physically and me medically.." Patrick smiled and laughed. He immediately grimaced when the halligan moved. "Don't make me laugh.." "I certainly won't make you cry.." DeSoto promised. "I'm counting on it.." Patrick grunted. "You're doing fine.." Roy said, then he looked up as cool night air suddenly filtered down inside the elevator shaft and washed away the suffocating plaster dust they had endured. "We're in the open, that's outside air coming in. We can take off our masks. The rest of you not helping me, see if you can reopen that door." |
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Twenty five minutes later, all the firefighters were free and a very dusty Roy sat next to his partner in the Mayfair rig en route to Rampart. Johnny Gage opened his eyes and wrinkled his nose at the plastery sour smoke smell coming off Roy's shirt. "Wough.. Somebody needs a shower. Real bad." Roy smiled. "I'll get one. Can't stay smelling like roses when you're waiting for a powder keg to go off under your feet.." Johnny paled. "You were inside when those guys blew the fire around the labs?" he said, his eyes getting wide inside of his long board's wraps and straps. "Yep.." Roy grinned. "Oh, Roy... Joanne's gonna kill you when she finds out." "No she won't. " "Why not?" "Because if she does, I'll tell her the reason why I was in there in the first place." It was Johnny's turn to smile. "You guys found Megan." "Sure did." "Well, all right.." Johnny said, trying to lace his fingers around the back of his head, but his IV line and backboard encumberances prevented him from doing it. He grunted in frustration, giving it up. Then he eyeballed the red stains on Roy's jacket and hands. "Any of that yours?" "Nope. Lt. O'Malleys. And he's gonna be fine after a little patch up surgery." "What happened?" "He argued with the wrong end of a halligan while the explosion was going on. It got him through the spleen most likely.." Johnny gripped his own stomach in sympathy. "Ooo, that's gotta smart getting stuck down there.." "Not according to him. Patrick said he just had some referred pain going up into his shoulders and that's all." "huh.. gotta remember those symptoms.." Gage said honestly. "Speaking of symptoms, how are you doing?" "Fine. How's the little girl you got out?" |
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"You mean whom Stoker got out.." "Stoker?" "Yeah,... he commandeered a snorkel bucket and we stretchered her out before the demo guys blew out the building." "Heheheh. That's thinking on your feet." "Yeah.. I was impressed." Roy admitted. "Megan's gonna be just fine. She was just a little suffocated from all the bad air she took in. She's headed to Rampart with Squad 10." "That's good. Then I'll probably get to meet her in the hallway or something waiting to be seen. I remember how busy the ER was before we got this call. It might still be that way.." "Yeah, well, I don't think you're gonna be waiting too long, partner. You've had a history of vomitting and unconsciousness." Roy chided. "I feel fine.." "I'm not the one who needs convincing. Tell that to the doctors.." "I will, believe me.." "Of that I have no doubt.." Roy said, cleaning up his skin with some saline from a bottle. "Try to get some rest. We're almost there." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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*************************************** From: Katherine Bird <kathbird01@yahoo.co.uk> Date: Thu Dec 11, 2003 5:48 pm Subject: Right Moves and Night Moves... Offstory- My gratitude to Audrey, WolfLynneKK@aol.com, the ETL Pediatrics Consultant for her aid in helping me with smoke inhalation lab work and with the temperment and personality of nine year olds in general. Onstory- "Roy,.. how's she doing?" Dr. Brackett asked as he met the rolling gurney holding the unconscious nine year old Megan from the explosives fire in a nest of backboard straps, O2 lines and IV tubing. Roy indicated Dwyer to his left. "Better ask Stan here. He's the one who brought her in. I had Johnny." Kel looked up at the man from Station Ten. "Meagan's doing fine, so far, doc." Dwyer piped up. "She's still pulling air. Glasgow's five though. BP's 84 over 60. Rate off the bag here's ten. Pulse 132. Pupils still sluggish but equal and reactive." the other paramedic replied. |
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