The Smoke Eaters Initiation – Testimoanial for Ms Madison
It was 10 minutes after midnight when my alarm went off. They are calling for Engine 11 to the scene of a structure fire. As the voice of the dispatcher continues on I am frantically getting dressed to go. I make it to the Station just as everyone is getting there. This is going to be like any of the other calls so I climb into my bunker gear and head toward Rescue 11. Our engineer for Engine 11 grabs me by the arm as I pass by and tells me that he doesn’t have a entry team and to go get on the engine and get ready. I felt my heart skip a beat as he said those words.
The siren drowned out anything that was in my head going to the call.
Getting
into my SCBA I tried to go over the things that I had heard from other Fire Fighters talking about their moment of initiation. As the engine arrived on scene I could see the ranch style house and the black smoke coming out of a bedroom at the far end. Everything was wild as I ran to the front door and grabbed a hold of the nozzle. Kneeling there it seemed like a eternity till the hose filled up with water. I told myself that this is it as I crawled into the structure.
The Fire Fighter I made entry into the structure with I did not know. My mind was racing from the adrenalin rush. Instantly after entering the structure I lost sight. The smoke was so bad that you couldn’t see anything out of the mask. Closing my eyes and relying on feel to find the hallway to that back bedroom. I struggled to calm my breathing down knowing that I only have about 30 minutes of air in this tank. My mind found its way back to a phone conversation that I had had with Miss Maddy earlier Thursday. The way that her voice was so calm and the fact that it wasn’t fake. I told Miss Maddy that my hair color was salt and pepper like Richard Gere. Richard Gere didn’t die in a fire and I wasn’t either I thought to myself.
Crawling thru the hallway trying to get over the piled up clothes and other items obstructing our path I saw the flames coming out of the ceiling toward us. Opening the nozzle took care of that. Reminded me of the movie Backdraft. I thought to myself “I don’t want to die in this structure!”
Pressing on toward the back bedroom seemed endless. I had totally lost track of how long I had been in the structure but knew that my tank was about half on the heads up display. Thinking about my conversation with Miss Maddy, we continued further down the hallway and ending with a push thru the door into the flame engulfed bedroom. Setting the nozzle on fog and letting ‘er rip we put the fire out. After the ventilation crew got the room ventilated it was finally time to see what we had been fighting that whole time. By now my heads up display is flashing red and vibra-alert is going off. I exited the structure saying a THANK YOU PRAYER to Miss Maddy. And a U-RAH!!
I’m sure there is a market for an airline with dominant flight attendants. Someone is going to have to work on that one. To any potential callers. I have to recommend Ms Madison. Sultry voice, and very, very smart. Dangerous combination gentlemen.