Saved By The Firefighter
Chapter 115

Ben's Point of View.

My heart is pounding so hard I can hear its echo in my ears. My lungs feel like they are stretching, through the physical exertion of clambering over objects that were falling left, right and centre, trying like hell to get these victims out of this burning hell hole. The sweat is dripping down my face, over my goggles, and with the thick smoke that surrounds me, it is making visibility almost impossible. God only knows if the people we are dragging out of this hell hole are even alive at this moment, but that is not a call any of us are prepared to make. All we can do is dig deep and push forward, doing everything we possibly can to ensure that we get them out.

The eery sound of the ceiling creaking and cracking, mixed with the roar of the flames surrounding me, lets us all know that it is probably going to come down eventually. The question is, how long do we have before it collapses completely?

Lucy's beautiful face flashes before my eyes, the sound of our baby's heartbeat drums in my ears in perfect time with my own echoing beats per minute. I blink my eyes, I cannot afford to focus on them, I have to keep my concentration on the job at hand. Place all my feelings, all the distractions into the box in my mind and padlock it shut. To survive this hell, I must avoid thoughts of my loved ones, stopping them from consuming me. I cannot allow them to take root and take my concentration, making me freeze. I gulp down my innermost fears, willing myself to not think about the sheer horror that would render me prone, the thought of not meeting my baby. I cannot afford to think about anything other than what I am doing right here, right now. Thinking would cause me to doubt my years of experience or second guess the split-second decisions that ultimately are the difference between life and death.

"Sit Rep Ben?" The boss's voice in my earpiece caused me to refocus on what and where I was.

"Team A, are all okay, we are nearing towards the room with the victims." I tell him, then turn to see Josie just behind me, her face black with soot, her blue eyes laser focused on the job at hand.

Headache is behind her, the same look of determination in his eyes as he moved debris that has freshly fallen from the blaze, in an attempt to give us a clear exit from the building.

We take a turn to the left, from the long corridor we are following, reaching the fallen part of the roof. More has come down in the minutes it has taken us to get the first three out of this nightmare and back again. I pick up a large piece of plasterboard, the embers of fire glowing on the edges, and cast it aside, as Josie picks up another large piece, discarding it. We have no time to triage the victims in the room beyond, we just grab the ones who are furthest from us, a tactical decision, as with each journey back and forth we will become increasingly exhausted. I walk with purpose into the room, and picking up the largest man, I throw him over my shoulder. He is heavy, even for me, and if he is still alive he is unconscious. Josie grabs the next guy, who is probably twice her size and weight, but she lifts him onto her shoulders, with shear grit and determination, as Headache grabs the next one, then in a line of three we make our way back from where we came. In the distance, I can just make out one of Davey's team, dousing the flames above, trying to buy us precious seconds, a few more moments in time that can make all the difference. More obstacles fall, narrowly missing me, and I have no choice but to clamber over the burning obstacles, thanking God for the suit that protects me from burning to death as I walk over, crawl under, and run through the flames.

In reality, this walk would take no more than ten minutes, but with the fire dancing around us with evil intent, the obstacles it throws at us without mercy, it takes just under half an hour. With both journeys we are all getting close to our 60 minute scuba oxygen tank running out of much needed air. All I can hope, is that the boss has timed us, and has the new tanks ready and waiting to be swapped out, so we can run back in and get the rest of the victims out.

As I push forwards I see that Davey is looking at his team, giving them a finger circling in the air, a clear indication it is time for them to move out, to grab more oxygen before continuing our task.

The minute it will take to change tanks is more time for our enemy to cause its destruction, precious seconds of breathable air lost to the flames, and more chance of anyone still alive succumbing to smoke inhalation, which kills more people than the physical flames do.

I push forwards, willing myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other, the man I am carrying weighing me down. I draw on my reserve of energy, when every muscle screams at me for mercy. Giving up is not an option.

I. Just. Keep. On. Going.

A small explosion blew out the wall in front of me, blocking my path to the exit I was heading for. It was not the explosion of the lithium cells or batteries, more like a gas pipe with a small residue of gas inside, despite the mains being turned off before we entered the building. It happens, these mini-explosions sound bad, and they are bad, but if anything is about to blow, I would rather it be that than the batteries housed in this place. It is by far the lesser of two evils. "Need an exit!" I shout into my radio, to anyone who is listening.

"To your left." Josie shout's from behind me.

I look to my left, and see a window that has been blown out, shards of glass scattered around the floor. But the broken window is big enough for us to clamber through, one by one, and the old analogy of 'When God closes a door, he opens a window' comes to mind, and I take a split moment to thank him.

I battle my way through more flames, making a mental note to tell the teams outside to douse this area with water, to create a safer passage for all of us.

Reaching the window, I clamber through it, the weighty body of my victim still over my shoulder. As I lift my tired heavy leg over the sill, I saw the sea of green running towards me, the paramedics. Dragged free from the building, the weight of the man is taken from me, as I turn to grab the victim off Josie's shoulders, passing him to the waiting medical professionals. I hook my arms under Josie's and help her get free from the inferno. Headache pushes forwards, and both Josie and I grab his own victim, passing them off to the ever present paramedics, then both of us haul him out of the window.

We wait as Wayne rushes forwards, pulling himself up, and climbing out of the window, closely followed by Twinkle. Finally Davey comes into view, and gets himself free from the fires of hell.

I move as quickly as my exhausted body would allow me, towards to the engine to get a new oxygen tank, when the boss comes over.

"Take a break, Marley pots are going in for the next rescue." He tells me.

I pull the mask from my face, gasping for air, then grab a bottle of water, from God knows who, gulping it down to quench the burn in my throat.

"They are going to have to axe their way through, from those doors." Davey shouts over to their station officer, as he turns and nods his head, then instructs his team, and we watch as they rush into the building. "You have got six out." The boss informs us.

"Four more are in that room we came from, none of them conscious. I have not seen the other two. Do you have any idea where they might be?" I ask the boss.

"No, they were not accounted for at the fire call. Apparently, they clocked into work, but have not been seen since the fire took hold." The boss sighs.

I look between Josie and Davey, all of us roll our eyes, shaking our heads. This means we have to search every single room in order to find them.

"Are any of those we rescued alive?" Josie ask's, with a deep sigh.

The boss looks at us.

"Only one so far." He tells us, shaking his head.

"Shit." Davey curses.

We all know the likelihood of any others surviving that fire is slim to none, but that is not our call to make. Irrespective of their chances of survival, we will still go back in, battle the blaze and not stop until we find them.

I gulp down more water, emptying the bottle, as the Boss hands me another. I instantly open it, and take another swig, allowing the cool liquid to rehydrate my parched throat.

I hear sirens in the distance heading towards us.

"We have called in another crew. It appears our arsonist has multiple accelerant trails to this building, then are going to foam the area around the building to stop them taking hold." Boss tells me.

"f**k me." Twinkle shouts out in frustration, uttering the words we all want to shout.

"Hang on, does that mean the fucker is somewhere around here?" I ask, my eyes instantly scouring the area for anyone suspicious.

"It looks like they were still hanging around when we got here, they set off two makeshift accelerant fuses whilst you were inside."

The boss admits, his normal stoic mask dropping for a split second as I glimpse the fear in his eyes, before, blinking and getting his internal wall of protection back in place.

"Bastard." Josie curses, before throwing her empty plastic bottle in frustration.

"The police are on it, we just need to focus. The Marley Potts crew have been in there nearly an hour. You had best get ready to go back in." The boss sighs out.

I simply nod my head. Then turn to Davey.

"If they do not bring anyone out, we have four victims still in that room, can I have one of your guys to help get all of them out together, rather than go back?" I ask him. "Yeah, does anyone want to go on the rescue squad?" He turns and asks Twinkle and Wayne.

"Sure, I will, ya'all" Wayne instantly puts his hand up.

I nod my head, as he moves into my group.

"We will go first with the hoses, try and get you a clear path. All of us will work to move the debris, so you can get in and get out." Davey informs us of his team plan.

The boss looks over between us and nods his approval of the plan. The station officer from Marley Potts walks over.

"My guys are on their way out now; more debris has fallen. Kelvin, I think we need to cut the chains on the backfire exit at this point." He suggests.

"Agreed, but beware, guys, only use it if there is no other option available, as opening that door will cause oxygen to flood that area, feeding the fire and increase the flames in that room, causing another explosion. You all know the drill." The boss tells us.

I nod my head, then look at the guys as we get our new scuba oxygen tanks on, then double checking the valves and dials, we line up waiting for the other team to come out of the building, so that we can rush back into the place where angels fear to tread.