As we pulled closer and closer to the scene of the fire, the adrenaline began pumping through my veins. My fingers and toes felt abuzz with electricity, and my mind was totally clear, completely focused. I lived for this sensation, wanted nothing more than to go home completely exhausted after a hard day’s work. There was something incredibly satisfying about expending all of my energy so that I’d feel weary deep down in my bones. It helped me sleep at night, helped me drift off so I’d be ready for a new day.
I smelled the smoke before I saw it. The familiar scent of smoldering wood and sickly sweet burning of plastic filled my nose. Out the window, I could see a flicker of red and orange lights painting the area in an ominous glow, black clouds wafting upwards to blend almost seamlessly into the night sky above. The building was only four stories tall, and it looked like the fire had started somewhere near the top. A crowd of worried residents all dressed in their pajamas were huddled together on the other side of the street, staring in both horror and awe as their homes were threatened by the flames.
The second the firetruck stopped, my team rushed into action, pulling on our oxygen tanks and masks while slinging heavy rubber hoses over our shoulders. An elderly woman immediately hobbled over to Jeremy, pulling her thin black cardigan closed over her chest against the chilly breeze. She started to speak to him rapidly in Spanish, frantic and breathless. I almost didn’t catch a word she said beneath the clamor of rushing water, cracking fire, and nervous spectating chatter.
“Mi vecino todavía está allá arriba! Por favor, sálvala!”
Jeremy looked to me and shouted, “She says her neighbors still up there!”
I yelled back at him, “I heard. Come with me. I think I see her.”
Through the smoke and the vicious flames, I could spot the silhouette of a young woman on the top floor –trapped. The building’s structure was becoming more and more unstable with every passing second, so we Jeremy and I needed to hurry. He didn’t even need to wait for me to give the order, he just followed. We’d worked together long enough to know what the other was thinking, we were just that in sync. Jeremy snagged a fire ax and followed me inside the building, locating the stairwell to begin our hurried ascent.
The smoke became thicker and darker the further up we went. It was a rookie mistake to believe we could save this girl without a steady supply of oxygen to our brains. In emergencies like this one, it was important to keep a clear head. And the only way to do that was to make sure we moved quickly, remained calm, and most importantly had each other’s backs. We’d done this hundreds of times before, and we’d do it a hundred times again. We were a team, him and –a well-oiled pair of cogs that worked perfectly together.
Jeremy and I made sure our masks were secure before breaking the stairwell door down to the fifth floor. Even though I was dressed in my full bunker gear, the heat of the fire was still intense enough to make me uncomfortable. If somebody really was trapped up here, it was likely that they’d already suffered from significant burns. I moved out of Jeremy’s way once we reached the end of the hall, floor creaking dangerously beneath our weight. He brought the fire ax down once, twice. The door splintered into bits and pieces, giving us ample space to proceed.
“Is anybody in here?” I shouted as loud as I could over the incessant beeping of the building’s fire alarm. I crouched down a bit to try and see beneath the smoke. “Hello? Can anyone hear me?”
The faint sound of a cough reached my ears. It sounded like it was coming from behind the only closed door in the entire apartment. Jeremy and I moved quickly. The brass doorknob was beginning to turn yellow, heating up to dangerous levels. It wasn’t safe to touch, so I jammed my heel into the door and kicked it open. On the floor, someone had made the smart move of placing a wet towel against the bottom crack of the door to keep as much smoke out as possible. The room was relatively clear of damage, but it was starting to warm up significantly.
Curled up in the far corner of the room closest to the window was a young woman with bright red hair and the most startling blue eyes –the waitress we’d me a couple of days ago. She was still in her work uniform, probably having just come home from work. Her eyes were all red, irritated by a combination of smoke and tears. I crouched down next to her immediately and tugged off my mask. There wasn’t any time for me to panic, to feel absolutely terrible on her behalf. She either had the shittiest luck because terrible things kept happening to her, or she had the best of luck because Jeremy and I kept showing up in the nick of time.