Wildfire

[3WINTERS]

“Dammit! Watch the road will you?” Chief Fire Officer Will Harrigan shouted nervously as he tried to contain his composure with the utility truck weaving between oncoming traffic.

At the wheel Joshua Bell, a rookie officer, laughed at his superior's fear as he narrowly avoids a collision with a bus cutting across two lanes and nearly sending the vehicle airborne as they crash over the median strip, back on to the correct side of the road.

“What? Do you want to get there, or get there fast?” Joshua asked.

“I want to get there alive thank you! Furthermore, I don't feel like paying the fines you keep racking up each week, I swear your the most expensive recruit I've ever employed and I've worked with some real assholes” Will retorted before nearly jumping out of his seat as they mounted another curb.

“ I would have thought the city appreciated us rescuing their kittens in record time” Joshua quipped before punching the horn with his fist.

“ Yes, those are sirens Move to your bloody left will you?!”

Joshua cut off a car attempting to pass on the right lane as he sped pass the confused driver that failed to move. He raised his middle finger at the driver and Will held his head in his hand as he pictured the phone call he was bound to get.

 

The outer reaches of Brisbane's south were unusually busy for a Sunday morning, speciality shops lined the streets with a throng of early morning shoppers and alfresco restaurants were busy with the breakfast rush.

Joshua looked out his window to get his bearings and finally noticed the plume of thick black smoke to the east.

“How tall is this building again?” Joshua asked as he took a sharp right through a t-section.

“The Hill View apartments are four floors high with the blaze located on the third floor, affecting one entire unit, the aerial appliance and another pumper are already on-scene” Will replied a little uneasily as he felt his stomach in his throat.

Sure enough the operation was already in full swing as they arrived, the ladder had been deployed and a cannon was pumping foam through the front window and the smaller unit was working on protecting the adjacent properties.

Across the street a large crowd had gathered, probably a mixture of rubberneckers and residents rudely interrupted from their morning activities, though someone was asleep on the job, the onlookers were still too close to the danger and Joshua could feel the heat of the blaze as he parked the command vehicle.

Jumping out of the truck Joshua looked back at the chief who was wiping the sweat off his brow with a handkerchief , despite a receding silver hairline and a few wrinkles needing a little ironing out as he would say, Will was still a fit looking man for an officer nearing retirement.

“you coming boss?” Joshua asked.

“Yeah just give me a moment lad, I think I messed my pants” Will replied before taking a long swig from a water bottle.

 

Joshua put on his fire resistant jacket and shielded helmet before putting a roll of hose over his shoulder and grabbing an axe in hand.

“ Your still on buddy?” came a heavily accented voice behind him, Commander Janusz Kasczyk, a Polish immigrant had joined station 24 about the same time as Joshua but had years more experience as a fire rescue officer from time served back home in Warsaw.

“Yeah mate, got called out just before knock-off time, been quite a hectic night I can tell you” Joshua replied as he indicated for Janusz to help him put on his oxygen tank.

Chief Will Harrigan interrupted the pair with his directive“ Okay lads, this is how it's gonna be, I want you two, to go round the back and break in the rear exit, I'm not confident in letting you go up the inner staircase of the structure with the thick smoke and the heat will chew right through that hose.”

Joshua and and Janusz nodded in acknowledgement before running toward their objective, it was not long past the time when Joshua found it hard to even stand straight with all the heavy equipment on let alone run, how he'd grown in such a short time.

 

The intensity of the fire was indeed muted at the rear of the building, in fact you could hardly tell the building was ablaze as Joshua and Janusz carefully ascended the three flights of external stairs.

“Rumour has it the Chief has you selected on the rescue detail for the American President's visit with the family tomorrow” Janusz inquired.

“Yeah it would appear so” Joshua replied flatly.

“Oh don't play coy with me brother, we both know you have the hots for the President's daughter” Janusz prodded.

Joshua laughed at this “yeah, yeah and I'll have her yet, women can't resist a hot guy in uniform”.

“ My ex-wife could” Janusz countered.

“ No, your ex-wife just got bored of having smoked kiełbasa every night” Joshua teased before his radio crackled to life, saving him from a counter attack.

“Listen up lads, despite earlier reports that the building has been cleared, be aware we've been advised that there is an adult male occupant of the flat who has not been located, it's very likely he's still inside, locating the man, dead or alive is your priority” warned the chief through a chequered signal.

“copy that boss” Joshua signed off before checking the hose that Janusz had connected to a hydrant and had been unravelling on their way up to the third floor.

[3WINTERS]

**** deleted for posting weirdness**** Just my luck...

[3WINTERS]

*** Okay I don't get it, my second post on here decided to have all kinds of formatting and my third... well, every line a space between two words was deleted and as I retried the post I'd either get the same problem or after editing I get a whole lot of html language I didn't add... so frustrating, I'm not sure if I should continue lol

 

<div><br></div><div>Edit: okay... seems my second post decided to play as nicely as my third, which is to say not very nice...:(</div>

[3WINTERS]

(okay, trying this posting thing again)

 

Nope, forget it, I don't know why, but when I copy,paste my writing into here, half the words join together errantly.... back to my hole I go

Edited August 18, 2012 by 3WINTERS

[Maharg67]

Very excellent, 3Winters, and an added bonus with it being based in Australia. :thumbsup:::thumbsup: Edited August 18, 2012 by Maharg67