Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Fire-fighter (10/05/06)
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TITLE: Saints in the Inferno | Previous Challenge Entry
By Chad Torgerson
10/07/06 -
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The night shift was usually spent just trying to stay awake. Eyelids felt heavy in the entire room, and heads began to nod. My mind began to wander as I was awakened by the deafening ring of the alarm bell. What was it now? Another false alarm set off in the middle of the night? Without much thought, I grabbed my gear and headed to the truck.
When we arrived, there were three other engines already there. Paramedics were tending to a few firefighters that had already been overcome by the heat. Standing a few hundred feet away, I could feel the sweat evaporating off of my skin. Witnesses stared into the flames with a blank stare, with tears rolling down their cheeks.
I had not seen a fire like this in years, since my first year with the fire department. It was my first call to a fire, and one that I will never forget. The inferno destroyed two buildings, and singed many others in an industrial complex. You could see the light from the flames a mile away.
My heart was racing. Fear overcame me, and I began to hyperventilate. I fell to my knees, trying to catch my breath.
“Kid, are you all right?” the Lieutenant asked. “You don’t have to go in there if you’re not ready. Don’t worry. We all go through it.”
“No, LT, I’ll be all right. Never a better time than now.” I replied.
He grabbed me by the arm and helped me off the ground. “Stick with me,” he said, “you’ll be all right.” I paused a moment and collected my thoughts. Over and over, I kept running through the training in my mind. It was now or never.
This fire was different. Lives were at stake. It was in an old apartment building, on the rough side of town. The buildings in that area were run down and falling apart. The wood was rotted and the buildings leaned. They were not safe to live in, especially now.
Against everything I learned, I stayed to find the woman. I would not leave anyone behind. But, I was giving up hope. Where could she be? I had searched nearly the entire floor already. The only room left was surrounded by flames.
I walked up to the door, and tried to kick it in. The door wouldn’t budge, as if something was blocking it. Repeatedly, I slammed my foot just below the door knob, hard enough to send a sharp pain through my knee. After more than a dozen kicks, it finally swung open and slammed against the wall. The woman had locked herself in the bathroom where the flames had just begun to spread.
Smoke filled the room and the woman was on the floor unconscious. I carried her to the window I had entered. Another firefighter stood waiting to take the woman down. Carefully, I passed her from my arms to his, afraid she may have injured herself. But, she was safe now. In a matter of moments, she would be in the hands of the paramedics.
As I stretched my first leg over the window sill, the floor beneath me collapsed. I caught the window with one hand, and struggled to hang on. Eighty pounds of gear weighed me down and strained every muscle in my arm. Desperately, I swung my free arm toward the window, but could not reach. I prayed for God to give me strength. I prayed for Him to save me.
Hope quickly began to fade away. I could see the rubble of three floors that given way beneath me. If I let go, that was it. No miracle could help me survive that fall. I decided to give it one more try. I reached back and swung my arm with all of the strength I could muster. My arm flung around and was stopped abruptly. I felt something grasping my arm. I looked up and saw the LT smiling through his mask.
“Need a hand?” he asked. The best words I have ever heard.
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