You will notice that this chapter has a (1) after the name. That is because there will be several chapters over time from Mike's PoV.
Well - it IS his Engine!
Most people think that the Engineer job is a cushy one. You don't need to go rushing into fires. Clean and dry at the Engine – and out of danger.
Oh, the bliss of the ignorant! Sometimes I long for the days when I also thought that being an Engineer was the cushy job of the Department.
It's time for me to put a few things straight about being an Engineer.
Firstly, let me admit that I absolutely do have a novel tucked in my gear locker in the Engine. However, it's currently buried under a technical manual that I have to go through, as well as folders containing HAZMAT information, mains pressure updates, hydrant information and the myriad other documentation and forms that we have to keep on my Girl. I actually need to give it a good clean and tidy.
I also keep a nice stash of packets of nuts and the like. Every Engineer does. It helps keep the crew going on shifts where a meal break is pretty non-existent. There are also plastic cups in there – hydration is probably the one thing that is easy! Remembering to drink… ahhh – there's the trick! Oh, and my knitting. Don't laugh. Most Engineers knit. In fact, we have a competition every year. But if you tell anybody I'll have to kill you.
Anyway – about being an Engineer. Lots of Firefighters want to study for the Engineers exam. And lots then drop out when they find out exactly what that means.
It's not just reading some manuals, doing an orientation on an Engine and then sitting an exam.
It's one day a week for 12 months in the classroom, or in various equipment bays learning the ins and outs of every model of Engine or Truck, and every piece of equipment that will go on them. In fact, the only course harder would be the Paramedic one. And that's only because you're dealing with learning about human physiology and medications as well as a lot of psych, PLUS equipment.
Yeah – OK – I compared courses with Roy. Personally – I think that the Engineer course is easier.
Engineers have more equipment, but we don't really have to factor in humans.
Most of us also have degrees in Fire Engineering, but you can do that over several years, and it's not a mandatory requirement - yet. I've heard rumours that the Department wants it to be mandatory that all Officers from Engineer up have it.
Yeah – we're Officers. 2IC at our stations usually – or in the big stations with several Engines or Trucks, the Engineer can be the Lieutenant in charge of that vehicle's crew.
It's ironic that I'm currently writing this as I sit in Big Red as the others are inside helping with the (apparent) chaos there.
Often, if I'm not needed elsewhere, and there is a handy hydrant, I make sure that the water tanks on Big Red are full. It's done every time after a fire – engines never leave a scene without a full tank of water if there is a hydrant available.
But we do plenty of things where we use water, and there isn't a hydrant handy, or very little water is needed. (We do have a hydrant outside the station so I can use that to fill the tank)
So – I always check for a hydrant and do a quick reading on the volume of water I'm carrying. I check – but I can always tell when I need to fill her up. The water load affects her handling – too little and she starts to get a little sloppy cornering. The water sloshes around in the tank and I can tell you now, that moving Big Red through the streets at speed is no joke when she's got less than half a tank of water in her.
It's almost as though she's complaining that she's not ready to go. Cap usually gives me a glare about it if it happens on the way to a call. 51 is his first assignment as Captain, so he's close enough to his own Engineering days to know exactly what's going on.
He's also as big an Engine nut as I am and knows Big Red almost as well as I do. He's driven her a few times – he may be a Captain, but he's still a Fireman and an Engineer, and he has to keep his own skills current.
I don't think it's a fancy, but Red doesn't handle quite as well for him as she does for me. She's loyal to her Engineers, is Big Red. But I like to imagine that she and I have a special bond – that she doesn't have with the other two.
After all, I was the Engineer that popped her metaphorical cherry.
I can still remember how she seemed to know what was going on as we climbed aboard, ready to take our new Girl out on her first incident. I felt her engine thrumming, felt her leap to life as I activated the lights and sirens and pulled out of the barn, slowing down to aloe Roy and John to swing onto the back.
Cap and my other girl, Georgie, thought it was hilarious. I didn't know whether to be appalled or amused when she and Joanne DeSoto turned up later that day with sparkling apple cider and sorts of "girls night out" food to have a "Cherry Popping Party" for Big Red.
Do women really do that? I mean, I know Georgie and Joanne did (apparently it appealed to their senses of humour); but do other women? Who knows! I have enough problems keeping u with Georgie (and I've got Hank's help with that) - the only other woman I have time to keep up with is Big Red.
Oh - and my Mom. But that's entirely different. (Hi Mom!)
Anyway, Big Red's a very different creature from the Crown. I loved the Crown – you never forget your first Engine (oh good lord – another sexual double entendre….), but not in the same way I love Big Red. I definitely don't miss the open cabin (sometimes, I felt like I would never get dry or warm again), or the fact that human comfort was a very far second on the Crown. Only the driver had a proper seat – the Officer and jump seats were actually that – jump seats. Captain Hammer, Marco and Chet were perched on top of hoses – not so much seats as a flat surface on top of hoses. I don't blame them for clinging on for dear life. I remember doing the same myself when I was a lineman.
There's reason we firefighters prefer to ride standing on the running boards on older Engines – the ride was far more comfortable and safe! And if you had to leap for safety, then from the running board you had less to fall from.
But our Crown did her service: and did it well. I made sure that she was kept in pristine condition, and I know that the Old Girl is still serving one of the volunteer groups. I've heard mention that she's in Nevada. Maybe one day I'll go and look her up – check that she's still being treated like the Lady she is.
Ahhh…. Big Red. She's different. We all have actual seats in her, and the closed cabin keeps us safe, warm and dry. You have no idea how blissful it is when you're wet and bitterly cold to climb into that cab and turn the heating on. I can actually hear myself think, rather than have to listen to Chet and Marco's teeth chattering from cold.
Of course, I make them clean and wipe up water and other assorted muck from their rear cabin when we get back.
Big Red – when she leaps into action, and for all her size – has a lightness about her. Technology that has improved since the Crown was brought into service has made driving Red less of a wrestling match and more of a caress. She's heavier than the Crown, but it's like the difference between a young woman getting up to dance and a more mature woman. Both are graceful and skilled, but the young woman has a seeming lightness and more energy to her that draws the eye.
Big Red is pretty much worshiped by her crews. Chet was the one who gave her the nickname Big Red, but C shift were the ones to formalize it by including the name on the station staff roster. Our major task each shift is making sure that she shines. I'm known to be pretty demanding on what she looks like.
Cap is worse though. Don't think I don't notice how his hand caresses her as he runs it down the chassis. He sees everything – and if you can't use the chrome as a mirror, then it's not good enough. Let him find a fingerprint, or a smear on her duco or (god forbid) a scratch and then our normal easygoing Cap vanishes, and Captain Stanley appears until Big Red is perfection again.
Suits me fine. Well, except for Cap's subtle ownership appropriation attempts. I may have to do something about that.
He's not her Engineer. Red is Mine. Well yeah, OK – ours. The three Engineers of 51. Red is ours. But especially mine. According to Marco, I have this "look" on my face when I first see Red when I arrive on shift. Like she hasn't been cared for well enough in my absence.
I didn't realise it showed.
Did you know that the divorce rate amongst Engineers in the Fire Department is higher than for other ranks? Wives tend to get jealous of our Engines.
I guess Hank and I are lucky. Georgie and I have known each other all our lives, and she didn't meet Hank until he was already an Engineer and was used to our endless discussion over fire engines and trucks. When the C-Shift Engineer got divorced, and B-Shifts fiancée dumped him, Chet made some quip to Roy about was he glad he didn't take the promotion and then asked how Cap managed.
At that point, the three of us, Hank, Georgie and I, hadn't let anybody other than my parents know our relationship situation (my parents because they had the same relationship). So, Hank's answer was doubly embarrassing to me!
So Chet asked Cap what his secret was, and Hank explained that this was his second marriage. That his wife had left him when he was an Engineer, but that that divorce had nothing to do with him being an Engineer (well, that was sort of accurate but that's Hanks's story to tell, not mine). He also said he got lucky with Georgie because when he met her he was already an Engineer and that I shared a house with her, so she was used to men with a fire engine obsession.
He also said that the other part of it was to give his wife as much attention and love as he did his Engine. Followed by several salient (and bordering on salacious and far too much information) comments on said attention to wife delivered in the dry way that only Hank Stanley can. (I'm not entirely sure that I didn't go as red as Big Red at some of what he said. In fact, I'm pretty sure that he said some stuff JUST to get a rise out of me.)
Roy DeSoto was nodding – he's been married for 13 years and it looks like he's found the secret as well.
But I think that Cap scared Chet and John off marriage, and even made Marco want to take a step back from his steady girlfriend.
So – if I'm not filling the water tank or doing some cleaning of the gear locker (I've just made a note to do that next), if we're in a residential area and it's not school time, then I can guarantee that I'll be busy with the hordes of children that a fire truck attracts.
I lock everything down except the lights, remove the keys from the ignition and spend my time supervising kids crawling all over my Big Red. I know that when we get back, there will be sticky finger marks to polish out, but that is a labour of love. If only one kid from the hordes that climb over her becomes a Firefighter and goes on to be an Engineer, then it's all worthwhile.
I like to think I can tell – which kids it will be. They're the ones that start asking all the hard questions. Sometimes they're just quiet as they touch her lightly, but reverently. I've seen a couple settling into the drivers chair and a look of absolute contentment and "right" settles on them.
One day, a very small girl sat there and looked me in the eye. "My seat. My engine." A little hand touched the steering wheel reverently and all I could do was nod. I hoped she would get her wish one day.
It's traditional that our Engines and Trucks are all referred to as female, but the Squads and Copters seem to be referred to as male. If our largest equipment is female, why can't the operators be?
I still grin at the tiny woman who put out a trash fire and had a log all ready for us when we arrived. Chet and Marco said later on that if she did that good with just an extinguisher, imagine what she would be like with a proper hose and training.
Cap was amused, but also impressed. And ever so slightly intimidated. The amusement came from just how tiny she was I think. She must have weighed 50 pounds dripping wet, and the extinguisher was half her height (and probably half her weight too).
I'm keeping an eye on the place we're at right now. They've been in there a hell of a long time and though this was called as a fire, and then cancelled…. Cap had an instinct that had him say that we'd check it out just in case.
I'm the Crew's eyes and ears outside. I let them know if anybody is approaching and keep anybody without any business there away. And after an incident with a few people going berserk inside, Cap and I have worked out a signal using the HT. He doesn't have to say anything, just a series of connection clicks and I can call for backup – either more crews or cops.
My instinct is starting to kick in now. They have been in there too long. Can't hurt to prime Red for action. Maybe get a hydrant connection ready. Just in case.
Because Big Red and I – we have a reputation to protect. To be there where we're needed, when we're needed.
I did some research on what quals you need to be an Engineer and couldn't find anything from the 1970's but currently you need to have done a degree in Fire Engineering. So I've mentioned it in here as being considered to consider that as a mandatory qualification.
And we all know Mike. He would have already done it and more.
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