It started with a frightened Daughter who was concerned for her firefighter father's safety. When said father couldn't convince his daughter he'd be safe any other way he still loved her enough to put his pride where ever it needed to go to get it out of the way while he did what he could to make it possible for her to sleep the nights he was on duty. (Perhaps we should Dance) It proceeded to said father doing all in his power to help his daughter build meaningful happy memories during her school years. (The Nutcracker) Now there's a Chief in the highest ranks of the department who's looking at some very interesting statistics. Some very interesting statistics indeed. Oh boy, are the guys on Station 51's A shift in for it.
The men of Station 51 A shift were lined up along the hall in the x-ray department. Six men moaning in pain, Hank Stanley pushed himself up on his elbow sliding his feet till they hung over the side of the gurney around the side bars that had been put up to prevent him from doing just that. Not a good idea, it was very painful to move to say the least. As much as he tried he just wasn't able to get to his feet or even a fully sitting position, even if he did he had no idea what he'd do. But he was a fire captain, and he had to see for himself that his men were all right, to somehow see to their needs. They had all gone down on his command, they had all gone down following his commands, how could he have let that happen?
Twice they came to take him in for his x-rays and twice he insisted that one of the others were taken before him. Finally there was no one to send ahead of him, he was rolled in to the x-ray room and helped over to the smooth hard table of the x-ray machine.
As he lay still the fire that had put them there raced through his mind.
It had been a structure fire at a well known refinery, a refinery that was often in violation of fire code but with the economy as it was and the threat of all of those employed by the company being forced out of work a political leader up for reelection gave them some leeway and granted them time to correct their problems. When they didn't meet the deadline he granted them more time. There wasn't a firefighter in the valley that didn't know the place, and several like it, were a time bomb waiting to go off.
Station 51 had made several responses to this refinery in the last year. For the most part the calls included small trash fires or minor injuries caused by worn out equipment, they were expecting more of the same when this call came in. Dispatch must have felt the same because they only called out the one station. Of course there had been another big response at the time, a bomb threat in a down town hotel that was packed with patrons attending several conventions in the area. The call had been intensified when a smoke bomb did go off just as emergency personnel arrived. That was the point when the hotel establishment decided they should start to evacuate the building.
Hank had been listening to the radio chatter surrounding the Hotel response and shaking his head, he could hear the frustration in his counter parts voices even through their professional manner as they reported their situation and standings to Dispatch explaining why they needed more help. When the tones sounded overhead he expected that his was one of the stations being sent to that location.
"Okay I need you to take a deep breath and hold it," Hank responded to the x-ray technician, before returning to his memories. To think he had actually felt relieved that he and his crew were being sent somewhere else.
-0-
Hank was being rolled back into the hall now, his jaw clenched tight and his hands griping the edge of the gurney in attempts to out stubborn the pain he was in.
Chief McConnike was waiting for him along with someone from department investigations.
"We'll be getting the x-rays to the doctor in just a few minutes," the technician tried to encourage, "you should be feeling a lot better real soon."
'Not likely,' Hank thought to himself as he was rolled up against the wall once again and he quickly looked around for the rest of his men. All five of them were still there most moaning in pain three still on oxygen, a couple of nurses running around applying ice packs and then covering the rest of their bodies with warmed blankets. All of them still had IV's
It was a hand on his shoulder pushing him back flat on his gurney that caused Hank to look into the eyes of his superior standing next to him. "What happened out there Hank? I need to know every last detail."
Hank sighed and rolled his head in frustration and pain, but he had a story to tell and he dam well was going to make sure it got told before another response was sent to that refinery, before another firefighter was injured or worse killed. That place had been allowed to get by without making improvements long enough and while he was at it that senator needed to be replaced not reelected.
As Hank started to talk he was back there once again. He could actually feel the pot holes the fire engine was driving through at the moment he first got sight of the thunderhead of smoke that awaited him.
"LA Station 51, we have a fully involved building here, request an additional two full battalions dispatched to our location." Hank had called out from two blocks away but even when he heard the 10-4 from dispatch he knew that with the hotel situation in full swing help was going to be a while in coming, hopefully they would have everyone evacuated here and they wouldn't have to go inside.
Hank ordered Gage to hook up duels from a block away and when Stoker stopped to let him get a hold of the hose he needed to follow orders Hank swung out of the cab to meet the person who was running in his direction.
"It just exploded and some of the pipes broke, with all this gas everywhere the flames went poof like crazy, two of my men are still on the catwalk in the main warehouse, they went down after the third explosion and haven't moved since." Hanks worse fears were spelled out.
Hank was able to grab hold of the back hand rail and pull himself up on the tail board to ride the rest of the way to the building and after applying a hose clamp pulled the handy talkie in his pocket to his mouth.
"We have two men inside I need everyone geared up, Kelly and Lopez each of you pull a two and a half Gage, DeSoto let's move it."
"We all went in together," Hank continued to tell the story, "Kelly and Lopez each were manning a hose with me between them as back up. Gage and DeSoto stayed close to help out with the hose as we walked across the cat walk then when we got close to the men they moved through the fog and got to the victims. They were both alive so they hoisted them on their shoulders and moved back around the linemen to let us cool the path out. That's when the catwalk collapsed dropping us all the eight feet to the floor, followed by another two quick explosions."
"There we were in one big heap hoses flying wild, I couldn't move and it didn't appear as anyone else could either. The next thing I know the hose are laying limp and Mike's charging in to get us all out."
Hank paused in his narrative and once more tied to lift his head to look around. Mike was the one lying farthest from him, still lying on a back board with a soft C Collar around his neck. Since he hadn't been in any of the explosions and there was no concern of a head injury he had been given something, a rather strong something, for his pain and he was blissfully out of it.
"Mike got us all out, he started by shouldering one of our original victims then taking hold of the caller of the other one dragged him out before coming back. Next he took Gage and DeSoto; he was able to put both of their arms around his shoulders and walk them out and set them down next to the squad where they were able to start treatment on the other victims. Kelly was out, so Mike had to shoulder him but Lopez just hurt his leg, as long as he could lean on Mike he was able to hobble out. I was trying to get up but my back started to spasm and I couldn't seem to move not to mention my leg, for a moment I thought my hip was broken but now I'm sure I just pulled a muscle in my groin. Still hurts like hell.
"Mike just grabbed a hold of my collar and pulled me up and slung me over his shoulder and started to run. I heard him groan in pain when he lifted me, he must have hurt his back before he got to me.
"We were half way to the engine when the next explosion went off." Mike went down to his knees and couldn't move any more. It was all I could do to roll off from his back then there was nothing we could do but lay there and wait for help to arrive."
"Do you know if you split your helmet when the catwalk collapsed or was it a result of one of the explosions?" the investigator questioned.
"I didn't know it was split. . . . But I would most likely suspect it was from the fall." Hank answered and took in another agonizing breath as he groaned and tried to shift to a slightly more comfortable position. There was no such position. "That must be why their worried about me having a head injury."
As the investigator continued to write what had been said Hank noticed two doctors coming their way and stopping to give the nurses instructions.
Hank was grateful that Dr. Brackett bypassed the rest of the men and came straight to him. "I'm pleased to inform you that there are no broken bones on you or any of your men. We do have quite a variety of muscle strains and possibly some tears but with proper physical therapy we should get you all back to work in a matter of weeks."
"So all of my men are going to be alright?" Hank questioned.
"Every last one of them, including the two you pulled off the catwalk." Brackett smiled, "From what I've seen on the news you're all extremely lucky."
Hank rested his head back on the gurney arching his hurting back slightly and let out a sigh of relief and a groan of pain simultaneously.
"We're going to keep you all at least overnight, I've ordered muscle relaxants and appropriate pain medication all the way around. We'll do our best to make sure you don't remember your stay here." Dr. Brackett smirked as the nurse stepped up to his side and started to organize the syringes in her hand and double check her patient's identity and the meds she had collected.
"Hank!" was heard just then and Hank's attention was pulled to the elevator at the end of the hall to see his wife running in his direction.
Hank managed to pull his hand up for her to talk a hold of as he started to feel the first effects of the medications being injected into his IV.
"I'll be fine," he reassured, "just pulled muscles and a few bruises," he was fighting to stay awake now, "Remind me to put Mike in for commendation when I wake up, and could you call Jennie and see if she can pencil us all i—" Hank's head then rolled slightly to the side, he was out.
Chief McConnike sighed in relief as the pain contorted face of this Captain under his stead melted into calm rest.
He already knew that the Jennie he had talked to his wife about was One Jennie Martin. A Physical Therapist who as well as running a dance studio, rehabbed injured muscles using the art of dance, most often the art of Ballet.
That this particular Captain used Ballet to stay on his game and even one step ahead of the rest was the worst kept secret in the department. He'd majorly contributed to that. But there wasn't a fireman in the department who would dare to say a word about it, either to his face or behind his back, at least not lately. For various reasons they all knew better.