TheBowMan

"These men are the last American pioneers, for they face, with each day, with each fire, an uncertian future... They are courageous without thinking about courage, and humble to a man about what they do." - Dennis Smith, 1982

"Yeah I've been to a quite a few fires already, two car accidents and a few false alarms." Alex said when his girlfriend's cousin asked "Have you been to any fires?" It was spring and 19-year-old Alex had been with the local Volunteer fire department for just over two years, he was attached to the busiest engine in the department, Engine 1. Ever since he was young he wanted to be a firefighter and when he turned 17 he decided to apply for the local department. He was accepted and he completed training and when he turned 18 the Chief decided to assign him to his dream job, the nozzle man on Engine 1.

"Do you get scared ever?" her cousin asked

"Sometimes I do, I mean yeah its fire and it can kill you but I control the water and I'm on the hose so I always got water between me and the fire." He was cut off by the beeping of his pager "Engine 1, Engine 2, Quint 1, Rescue 1 please respond to box alarm at 701 Stoneybrook Drive for a reported house fire."
"Well then" Alex said "I gotta go, see you guys later" He got up and kissed his girlfriend goodbye "I'll text you after we're done"
He drove down to the fire station, which was less than a minute away from his girlfriend's house. He parked and pulled his uniform out of his trunk and pulled the pants up over his jeans and threw his jacket on before running through the side door and into the garage. Seconds later the driver, Josh Simmons, ran through the door followed by Jeff Donaldson, Brad Zimmerman and Colin Pulozzi. They all arrived within two minutes of Alex and less than two minutes after they all arrived Engine 1 was pulling out of the station.

"We're goin to, uh, 701 Stoneybrook drive." Donaldson, a veteran Capitan, said to Simmons.

"That's just down the street from Station two aint it?" He replied

"Yea, by the time we get there Engine 2 should be gettin ready to go in, so we souldent have to do alot tonight" Donaldson said

The sound of Engine 1's sirens filled the street as they sped towards Stoneybrook drive. They turned down a ramp and Alex looked out his window and saw the top of a smoke plume rising over the trees. He looked away from the window and said "Looks like we got heavy smoke comin' up from the left." Alex then reached back and put his arms through the straps of the air-tank sitting behind him, they turned down the street and saw the smoke coming from the end of the street."Okay I just got a message from dispatch, the fire is on the second floor in a living area" Donaldson said. The fire was started when the home owner's youngest daughter, a personal friend of Alex's, accidently knocked over a candle while she was playing with her 3-year-old niece. A police officer was on scene within two minutes of the fire being reported and got information and reported it to dispatch, who then reported it to all responding fire units. Engine 1 raced down the street and, as they pulled up to the house, they noticed that Engine 2 was nowhere in sight.

"Where the hell is Engine 2?" Simmons asked

"I don't know but we're gonna make our attack, get those hoses hooked up and lets go in."

"Right cap'" Zimmerman said

The firefighters got off the truck and Alex ran to the side and grabbed the attack line, the hose that was going to be used inside the house, and dragged it to the porch steps, meanwhile Pulozzi and Zimmerman tapped the hydrant and hooked up the supply line. Donaldson got on his radio "Two story single family dwelling, heavy smoke coming from second floor" he reported back to command. The homeowner and his family were standing across the street, their youngest daughter noticed Alex's last name on the back of his coat. A distant siren filled the air, it was Quint 1, followed by Rescue 1. Alex, along with Zimmerman, Pulozzi and Donaldson walked to the porch steps and knelt down to put their air masks on. They did and Donaldson signaled for Simmons to charge the hose line, Simmons let water into the line and Alex grabbed the hose from the ground and they went in. Quint 1 and Rescue 1 were on scene by now and were beginning to carry out their duties on scene. Quint 1 prepared to get guys on the roof and begin ventilation operations while the men of Rescue 1 got equipment together just in case anything should happen and someone gets trapped. Inside the house Alex led the way as he rushed up the stairs, when he reached the top he could see the glowing of fire, he moved in and knelt down and began spraying "the wet stuff on the red stuff." He forced the flames back and Donaldson gave the order to push in further, Alex moved up and took a knee and as he did a crack filled the room, he froze and not two seconds later the floor gave way, sending Alex falling to the first floor, a burning couch then fell into the hole and slammed down next to Alex, causing another floor collapse and sending him into the basement. Donaldson, who was right behind Alex, nearly fell into the hole as well but was grabbed by his fellow firefighters.
Outside the chief had arrived and was talking to the crew of the late arrived Engine 2 when his radio crackled on "Mayday, Mayday we got a firefighter down, I repeat we got a firefighter down" a horrified Donaldson screamed over the radio. The chief got on his radio and called back "What's the situation?"

"Floor collapse, second floor and possibly first has been affected, Bradford went through we're goin down to see if he's on the first floor"

"Evacuate the building, I'm sending Rescue 1 in now"

"ten-four"

The chief got the crew of Rescue 1 over and looked at them "Listen there was a floor collapse, we got a man down on the first floor, go in and find him."

"You heard the chief lets go in a get him, let's go, let's go" The Lieutenant on Rescue 1 said and directed his men back to the truck. Alex, who was momentarily unconscious, regained consciousness and found he couldn't breathe, he ripped off his air mask and noticed blood was beginning to fill it. He ran his hand over his face and felt his nose, pain shot through his face, his nose was broken. He couldn't move his right leg, that was broken also. He got on his radio "Can anyone hear me?" he said with pain in his voice

"Alex?"

"Yea chief"

"Alex can you tell me where you are, Rescue 1 is coming in to get you"
"I think I'm in the basement, I know I went through two floors, I got a burnin couch here chief, fire's spreadin'"

Rescue 1 was now by the porch masking up when the chief called them back, he needed to find out from the family how to get to the basement before he could send in Rescue 1. He walked over to the family "This your house?" he asked

"Yea it's ours" the owner said

"Okay there's a problem, there was a floor collapse and we got a guy trapped in the basement, we gotta know how to get down there"

When their youngest daughter heard that a firefighter was trapped she immediately started looking around, frantically trying to find "Bradford" written on the back of a coat, she couldn't find it. The chief, after receiving a detailed description from the homeowner, then relayed the information to Rescue 1, who then went in in search of the stairway to the basement. They went in and found that the fire was now involving the first floor pretty heavily, they reached the reported area of the staircase, only to find it blocked by fire. They called in for a hose line, Engine 2 was then sent in to fight back the fire and open the stairway so that Rescue 1 could get in and retrieve Alex.

"Alex how are you doin'"

"I'm in a corner, the fire is involving the room I'm in pretty quick"

"Is there any way you can break out of this room?"

"Maybe, the paneling looks pretty thin, I might be able to get through it"

"Good, what do you see around you?"

"I see a washer and dryer, I'm right next to a sink. I can make out a door in front of me but the fire's..." He began to cough "...fire's blockin' the door"

"Try to get through that wall okay Alex"

The chief then went back to the homeowners and brought with him a notepad and a pen.
"Our guy is alive down there, okay, and I need you to draw me a diagram of the basement, he says he's in a washroom."

"Okay" The homeowner said and began to draw, he drew out the basement as best he could, and gave it back to the chief. While the homeowner was drawing, Alex scooted up to the wall and, with his good leg, began kicking the panel with the bottom of his foot, he kicked it twice before his foot went through. He pulled his foot out and turned around and began tearing the paneling off with his hands, he then felt sheet rock on the other side, he turned around again and began kicking the sheet rock, at the same time his radio crackled on "Alex listen closely, behind the wall there should be an open space and just beyond that space there should be a wall, just behind that wall is the staircase, if you follow the wall you should find the opening at the bottom of the stairs, get near there and Rescue 1 will get you okay?"

"Yea I got it chief"

By this time the chief had struck out a second alarm and units from two other departments were on their way to help battle the blaze. Fire had involved the second floor fully and the men of Engine 1 were using the deck gun to battle it. Inside the house Engine 2 finally managed to clear the way for Rescue 1 to go in and get to Alex. Rescue 1 prepared to go in, they moved to the porch and began to mask up, as they masked up one of the members noticed the roof over the porch to be bowing down, as he was about to point it out to the Lieutenant it collapsed, blocking the door.
"Damn it!" The lieutenant shouted "We gotta go in through the back, come on let's move" He shouted to his men and they carried they're gear to the back of the house. They broke through the back door and entered the house. They avoided debris, some of which were still flickering with flames a little bit. In the basement Alex was finally able to break through the wall, he was almost to the stairs, the fire in the basement, however, was still very much raging. He was suffering from smoke inhalation and was running out of breathable air, he looked up and saw the glow of fire on the ceiling, he looked at the stairs and saw flames burning at the foot of the stairs, he heard commotion above him, Rescue 1 was finally coming to get him. He looked in front of him, he saw a burning piece of wood fall in front of him, and then another. He heard commotion above him and to his right, it was Rescue 1. He then heard his radio crackle on "We need a hose line, basement is well involved, basement is well involved we need water in here." Alex saw more small pieces of wood falling through the burnt ceiling tiles, he knew that it was only a matter of time before another collapse happened, running out of air and badly injured he got on his radio "Chief, chief, it's bad down here, it's real bad. Fire burnin' all over, chief don't let anyone else in here, another piece of the floor's gonna go down. It ain't worth it anymore, get em all out"

The chief was at a loss of words, he held his radio by his mouth but was unable to speak. He took a deep breath and he finally pushed the button and said "Command to Rescue 1, evacuate the building now"

"What?" The lieutenant angrily said back into the radio

"Evacuate it now, I said"

The lieutenant took a deep breath and replied with a reluctant "Okay"

The now exhausted men of Rescue 1 carried their gear back to the truck, Rescue 1's mission was failed and the realization began to set in that a firefighter had been lost.

"Its six o'clock mom, let's get the TV on, I wanna see if the fire is on the news" Ally was energetic about seeing if her boyfriend was going to be on TV. She turned on the TV and turned it to the news channel, her cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents followed her. She watched as the news anchor came on and said "A firefighter is reported as dead after a house fire this afternoon." Her heart sank, she covered her mouth. "Maybe it's not Alex, it's probably not Alex" she thought to herself. Her phone began to go off and she picked it up "ALEX?!" she shouted, only to be met by the voice of the fire chief, telling her that it was, in fact, Alex who had died in the fire. She hung up the phone and looked at her family and said "The firefighter was Alex" and began to cry. The next day the name of the fallen firefighter was released, the family that lived in the house heard the name of the firefighter who died trying to save it. Their youngest daughter heard that it was Alex and became extremely emotional knowing that someone she knew personally died in her own house, fighting a fire that she started. A candlelight vigil was held at the fire station that Engine 1 was stationed at. A small white cross was put at the site of the fire, along with a picture of Alex and flowers were put around it. All the flags in town were lowered to half staff, black drapes were hung on the towns two fire stations, a moment of silence was held at all the town's schools, in respect for the fallen firefighter, who was one of their own students. All signs that had messages on them were changed in memoriam for Alex with messages such as "We'll miss you Alex", "Alex, our hero" and "Rest in Piece Alex." The following Saturday - A week after the fire - a funeral was held for Alex. It attracted a total of 900 people, including 200 firefighters from across the nation.

"Alex was one of the most dedicated firefighters I knew. Before he could fight fires he was always looking for a way to be as involved as he could be when we were at a scene. When he started fighting fires he was always enthusiastic about, in his own words, 'getting in there and bringing it to the red stuff.' He loved fighting fires, he always said that it was his favorite thing in the world. He did a lot of good in the department, one story that stands out to me is the time when one of our firefighters became trapped under the roof and broke his way through but he was unable to pull himself out so he shouted for help. Alex was the closest to the ladder up to the roof and he climbed it and pulled our guy out from the roof, Alex got some burns on his arms from it but he didn't care because he helped a fellow firefighter. His dedication to this department was great, he always said that his life revolved around two things, his girlfriend and the fire department." The chief delivered a eulogy about Alex and after he finished Alex's girlfriend stood up to say some words.

"When I met Alex he had just become a fireman, he was so happy about it too. I can't tell you how many times he would say how much he loved being a fireman, I..." She paused and tried not to cry, but the tears began to roll down her cheeks "I miss hearing it, god I miss him so much. I miss his firefighter talk, I didnt understand it but I miss it. I'm never gonna forget our first date, we went out for Pizza and he got a call and we went to the fire station and he left and I sat around until he got back, it bothered me at the time but now I think that its the best memory I have of him." She began to cry a little more "He was such a nice guy, he was always there if you needed to cry or just needed a person to talk to. He had the best sense of humor, he was just a great person, it's too bad, it's just too bad." Ally couldn't go on any longer and after everyone who wanted to speak did Alex's coffin was rolled out of the high school gymnasium and to a group of six firefighters who then carried it to Engine 1, which had black drapes on it. They placed it on the back and Engine 1 proceeded slowly away from the school, followed by the other trucks in the department. The procession was then joined by a total of ten other trucks from several other area departments. The sidewalks along the route of the procession were lined by fire trucks and firefighters who saluted the procession as it went by. The procession followed nearly the exact same route as Engine 1 did a week earlier as it sped to the house fire on Stoneybrook drive. They passed the street where the fire was and they then reached the cemetery, Engine 1 turned in while the rest of the fire trucks continued on and eventually returned to their stations. Engine 1 then pulled to the row where Alex was to be buried, when it came to a stop the same six firefighters removed his coffin and carried it to the plot where he going to be buried. They set his coffin down and the service began. The bell was rung to signal the death of a firefighter, two firefighters folded the flag over his coffin and handed the folded flag to his father. Another firefighter then carried the helmet Alex was wearing when he died and handed it to Ally, a request that Alex made if anything was to happen to him. The funeral closed with the playing of Taps and then Amazing Grace and, as the sun began to set, the cemetery began to empty.