I held my breath to see if she would mention which fire house was there, but she just threw it back to the anchor in the studio. “We’ll give you an update when we have any new information. Back to you, Sean.”
I grabbed my phone and texted Annalise back. Just turned it on. Omg. Did they say which fire house earlier?
I couldn’t stand the wait for her reply. I took a deep breath, and went back in to my contacts list. There was Blake’s number that I had never deleted. I had to check.
My fingers were shaking as I tapped out the words. Hey Blake, just saw the big warehouse fire on the news. Just wanted to check and see if you’re okay.
It felt weird ending the text like that, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it any better. I wasn’t sure he’d know it was me. He’d probably deleted me. I wasn’t about to start signing my name on texts like an old person, but saying ‘thanks’ or ‘bye’ seemed weird. In the end I just left it as I was, and held my breath as I pressed send.
With that message out there in the world now, I was tense from head to toe. I waited for the anchor to give an update, but when they started talking about the weather forecast for the rest of the week I couldn’t wait any longer. I grabbed the remote and started switching channels, searching for more information.
Channel Seven just mentioned the fire in passing, but Channel Three had a reporter on the scene, too. This one was a guy with black framed glasses and a plaid shirt, clutching a microphone with both hands while he glanced over his shoulder. “We’ve had word that County Fire House Eight has just arrived on the scene, to assist the Pine Ridge Division Houses Three and Four which are currently battling the fire. More help is en route to offer assistance as well, as this fire is growing rapidly. There is concern that it could spread to the adjacent buildings, and police have joined the efforts and are going door to door to warn residents in the neighborhood that they may be asked to evacuate if the fire continues to grow. Authorities are asking citizens to avoid the area.”
Pine Ridge Division Fire House Three. That was Blake’s fire house, I was almost certain. I could picture in my mind the truck pulled up in the school’s parking lot, the firefighters piling out. All of those men were in that warehouse right now. I clutched my phone in one hand and the remote in the other, my heart pounding in my chest.
For a second I had the crazy thought that I should get in my car and drive over to Union Avenue and be there for him when he came out, but what help would I be there? Blake had a job to do. He had a fire to fight. The police were telling people to stay away from the area. It wasn’t like Blake would be able to take a break to come over and talk to me. And besides, why would he want to, anyway? We’d been on one date, and I’d ignored his texts and basically told him to get lost when he had come to talk to me. I’d look crazy showing up there. He was probably going to think I’m a nut job when he saw my text anyway.
Still, I kept checking my phone to see if he had replied. No answer, and nothing from Annalise either.
I changed the channel again, back to the original channel Annalise had told me to watch. The blonde reporter was interviewing the fire chief. I turned the volume up.
“We’re in there doing the best we can,” he said. “This is a tricky one because the building has several levels. There are possible accelerants in the warehouse area. Our main focus right now is to contain the fire quickly and safely.” He nodded a couple times, clearly trying to get away from the cameras to get back to his job. I squeezed the remote so hard I got a cramp in my hand.
“You mentioned that this fire may be more complicated than initially assumed. Can you talk about that a little more?”
“All fires are complicated,” said the chief.
“Can you explain a bit more about what in particular makes this fire more complicated than others?” the reporter tried again.
The fire chief looked reluctant to share more information. “Like I said, we believe there may be some accelerants in the building. This makes the situation more volatile. At this point, our goal is to contain the fire and prevent it from reaching the warehouse where those chemicals are stored. We’re also doing our best to protect adjacent structures. But as always, keeping our people safe while they work is our first priority.”
“Do you have firefighters trapped inside?” the reporter asked, looking into the camera with an expression of intent concern.
“We do have firefighters inside the building and that’s standard procedure.” He seemed increasingly impatient, but part of his job was to work with the press.
“But, Chief, we’re hearing that there may be firefighters trapped. Is that true?” The reporter persisted, evidently not willing to give up on getting the scoop.
The chief paused. “We’re waiting on a status update from a group inside. I don’t like to use the word trapped because we don’t know for sure that’s the case. In any event, our people are well trained and know what to do in any situation they face.”
I sank back in to the couch. “No,” I whispered softly. “Oh, no.”
I picked up my phone. Still no reply, but I didn’t care. I didn’t bother with a text this time. I called Annalise.
She picked up on the first ring. “Sammie? Are you okay?”
“I saw it,” I managed to stammer out. “I saw the fire on TV. Do you think it’s him inside that building?”
“I don’t know,” said Annalise. “I hope not.”
Now the fire chief was gone, and the reporter was interviewing a young boy. He looked about six, and vaguely familiar. I didn’t think he was a student at my school, but I wasn’t sure where I knew him from. I’d missed her question as I thought of what Blake might be going through but listened when the boy responded.
“My uncle is a firefighter!”
“Is that so?” asked the reporter. She stood up and addressed the dark haired woman standing next to him. “Is this your son?”
“Yes, this is my son,” said the woman, with a hint of a Texas drawl. “My brother is a firefighter with House Three. I know there’s nothing we can do to help but we’re just hoping to hear news that he’s safe. Blake, we love you!” she cried, looking back over her shoulder, then turning to look back into the camera.
I almost dropped my phone. Blake. Blake was inside. This was his sister and I thought her name was Camille. The boy was her son. I remembered where I recognized him from now. He was the boy I’d seen Blake with at the mall. His nephew. He hadn’t lied to me after all. I felt self-absorbed, short-sighted, and unreservedly small.
“Sammie?” came Annalise’s voice from the other end of the line. “Are you there?”
Annalise was right. I had overreacted. I’d panicked and run scared from something I’d originally had a good feeling about. I had judged him so unfairly without even giving him a chance to explain when he hadn’t even done anything requiring an explanation.
If I hadn’t been so focused on my insecurities and unfair views, I could have asked him who the boy was. He wouldn’t have lied to me. And if I’d had the courage I should have had, I would have gone up to him when I saw him instead of hiding while I assumed the worst of him.
And now he was in a burning building, and there was nothing I could do to help.
Well, not nothing. I dropped to my knees, clutched my phone tightly in my hands, and began to pray.
16
Blake
“Joe!” I yelled. I coughed into my mask. “”Where are you, buddy?”
It was so dark I could only see the vagueness of shapes through the haze of smoke and flames. Joe was supposed to be going through the second floor to get the lay of the land and check for people who needed help getting out. Roger had just called over the radio that the building owner had finally showed up. He’d informed the chief that there were flammable materials stored in the warehouse, so our plan had changed. We had to speed up our efforts to make sure everyone was out and get this thing put out. We couldn’t allow this to spread to that side of the building.
I shook my head. “He’s up here somewhere. Haven’t checked the rooms to the left yet.”
“You want me to go take a look?”
I hesitated. If Mike and I split up, we could look quicker. But I’d always been trained to stay with a buddy when visibility was low. If Mike got lost, or if I got lost, while we were looking for Joe, then we’d all be worse off than we were now. “Let’s go together,” I said.
Mike put his hand on my shoulder so we wouldn’t lose each other in the smoke, and we turned to the left. The first room had piles of boxes that I knew would go up in flames within seconds once the fire reached here, but no Joe. I said a quick prayer that we would find him quickly.
How had this call gone so wrong so fast? When we’d first heard the call, Joe and I had jumped off the couch and into action. We’d joined the others and jumped in to our gear. Once we were all in the truck, we’d raced to the scene just like every other time we’d responded to do our job.
The sprawling facility with a warehouse on the south side had caught fire on the lower floor. Though a building fire is never routine, this one seemed low risk as far as risks go in our line of work. We simply went about our business to get the situation under control.
I’d heard that the chief was having trouble getting in touch with the building owner to get more details, but that wasn’t always so odd. That did happen from time to time. We’d gone inside to check for any people, but when the manager had showed up and said there was nobody inside the chief had called us all back out. Since we didn’t need to evacuate anyone, our work could be done from the outside.
The building was already severely damaged structurally, and it wasn’t safe for us to be inside for no reason. When the next call came that there were flammable materials stored in the warehouse, we needed to make our exit even quicker. Our safety was at stake and we were needed even more on the south side near the warehouse.
It was only after we had gotten out of the building when we’d realized that Joe was still inside. I had no idea how we’d gotten separated. I thought he’d been behind me. I was rocked with fear and guilt. I’d volunteered to go back in and find him. Mike came with me and we rushed back in to the burning building to find our friend.
Back in the main lobby, we looked left and right. I called his name again and thumped the walls so he could hear me. He had to be here somewhere. “Come on, Joe!” I yelled again. “Let me know where you are, buddy!”
He had to be here. Please, God, I prayed silently, help us find him. I had Ashley and the kids depending on me. He’d saved my life once, when we were in Iraq and our convoy had come under fire, and now it was time for me to return the favor.
“Think we should go back and check the rest of that room where I found you?” Mike yelled in my ear. “I don’t think he’s here. Smoke’s too thick. I don’t have much longer in my air tank.”
I didn’t have much air left either. “We should have changed them before we came back in. But now we don’t have a choice. Let’s go.” I turned to Mike and he nodded.
“We can get this done fast. I know it.” He gave me a light shove and we headed further into the building.
We both thumped the wall again. Maybe my ears were playing a trick on me, but I thought I could hear a faint banging a bit further down the hall. I held up a hand. “You hear that?”
Mike nodded, and we rushed forward. Please let that be Joe, I prayed as we made our way down the hallway. I took two more steps and almost tripped over Joe’s boots. He was lying on the floor, weakly tapping the wall next to him. His mask was lying near his head, just out of reach.
I reached for my radio as I crouched down to put his mask back on him. “Located Joe on the second floor. He’s suffered some smoke inhalation. We’ll have to carry him out.” Mike was checking as much as he could for injuries that might need attention before we headed out.
My radio crackled to life. “Good work, boys,” said Roger. “Got some bad news for you, though. The front of the building is now engulfed. You won’t be able to get out the way you got in. Can you get to a window?”
Walking through a burning building to save my best friend was all in a day’s work, but I really wished the exit was going to be easier. “Roger, Roger,” I said, which usually got a laugh from everyone, but there was silence across the wire this time.
Now I just had to carry him to the bank of windows so we could get the ladder down. As I stood up to get ready to help him up, I silently asked God for strength. With Mike’s help we got Joe to his feet for a moment and I lifted him over my shoulder. Mike led us to the windows where we needed to meet the ladder.
Under normal circumstances, opening a window and feeding a fire with fresh oxygen wasn’t something we would do, but these weren’t normal circumstances. Mike broke the glass out with his crowbar and we looked down at our crew and gave the thumbs up. The boys on the ground had set up a crash pad on the ground below, and we got ready to get Joe out the window. I held onto him tightly, as his head lolled to the side in semi consciousness.
“Get ready, buddy. You’re about to get in the safe zone.” I nodded to Mike as we both breathed a sigh of relief.
“Let him go!” yelled Roger, below us.
I took a deep breath. I’d coached people out of windows before. Intellectually I knew that it was safer to get out this way than hang around up here, where the fire and smoke would get to us all before long. But I had a new appreciation for anyone who’d had to jump out the window from the false safety of the building to true safety on the ground.
“Let’s do this,” said Mike, and we lowered him as far as we could before letting go.
I watched Joe fall through the air and land with a bounce on the big inflated mattress. I could see flashing lights from ambulances, police cars, and our engines. A pair of EMTs grabbed him and put him on a stretcher almost as soon as he landed and raced him towards a waiting ambulance. I exhaled. My buddy was safe.
“You wanna go next?” asked Mike.
“No, you can go,” I told him. He nodded, and then he was gone out the window as well. I took a deep breath and jumped as soon as he rolled off the pad.
17
Sammie
I sat in my car in the parking garage at St. Luke’s Hospital, trying to pump myself up. I didn’t really belong here at the hospital. I wasn’t family, and was I even really a friend? We’d gone on one date! But I couldn’t help myself. I had to be sure he was okay.
My phone rang. I grabbed it, thinking maybe it was him and I wouldn’t have to go inside the hospital and talk to people I didn’t know at all. But once again, it was Annalise’s name on the display.
“I saw your message,” she said. “What did you want to say to me?”
I hesitated. “I’m in the parking garage at St. Luke’s. Could you meet me here? There’s a coffee shop in the atrium on the bottom floor, we could meet there first.”
“Sure,” she said, after a beat. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Now I really had to get out of the car. Meeting someone at the coffee shop in the main part of the hospital seemed a little safer, though, than lurking in the hallways looking for Blake. All I was doing was meeting a friend for coffee in the hospital’s atrium, I told myself. Nothing wrong with that. It wasn’t like I was going to look for a guy I’d gone out on one date with, jumped to unfounded conclusions about, rudely rejected, and now changed my mind about.
It was getting late, but the coffee shop was still open. I ordered a latte, and found a table near the entrance where Annalise wouldn’t be able to miss me.
She was just a few minutes behind me. She saw me right away, gave a little half wave and stopped by the counter to order something. I waited. I’d said some hurtful things to her the last time we’d seen each other. Was that only last night? I didn’t blame her
for being a little cool towards me.
Finally, Annalise sat down at the table across from me with a pink smoothie. “No coffee?” I asked, trying to make light conversation. Annalise was normally a caffeine fiend.
“No,” she said neutrally. “It’s late, I don’t want to have coffee right before bed.”
I looked at the time. It was almost eleven-thirty. “Gosh, I didn’t even realize,” I said. “I knew it was getting late, but I didn’t know it was this late.”
“It’s okay.” She sipped her drink and looked me in the eye. “What did you want to tell me?”
“Did you see the news?”
“The fire? Of course! I’m the one who told you about it.”
“No, I mean about Blake.”
“Is he okay?” She leaned forward, concerned.
“I don’t know. They interviewed a woman and her son. I recognized the little boy.”
“The boy from the mall.” Her gaze didn’t waver.
I nodded.
“Oh, Sammie. I’m sorry. I really did believe he was a good guy. I guess I was the one who was wrong about him.”
“No, that’s not it! You were right,” I said quickly. I didn’t want her to misunderstand. “The woman was his sister. Not his wife, or ex-wife. The little boy wasn’t his son. It was his nephew. I jumped to conclusions. I assumed. I didn’t even give him the opportunity to explain. And I bit your head off when you tried to make me see that maybe there was another explanation. You didn’t deserve to have me yell at you like that. I’m so sorry, Annalise. Do you think you could ever forgive me?”
First Impressions (Hero Hearts: Firefighter) Page 8