In the Report

Hank Stanley's reaction to the final rescue in "Communications."

Note: Portions of Mark Saha's script for the episode are included.

Captain Hank Stanley sat down, put the form in the IBM typewriter and turned on the machine. He had a mixed relationship with the newfangled electronic typewriter; sometimes he liked its speed, sometimes he hated it. But he had to admit the corrections were less messy than with a manual typewriter.

December 13, 1975

Captain Hank Stanley

Los Angeles County Fire Station 51

Squad 51 responded to the call of a man trapped while Engine 51 was on a call of a fire. Engine 51's fire call was cancelled, and the engine responded at the request of Squad 51 to the call of a man trapped. Engine 51 pulled up to the house...

The explosion had taken place just as Engine 51 had pulled up. Captain Hank Stanley had heard the woman's scream, even with the noise coming from the garage.

"TWO INCH AND A HALFS!" he called to Chet Kelly and Marco Lopez.

Every sound from the flames seemed to be accompanied by a heartbeat from him. Get it out, get it out, he thought.

"THEY'RE ALL IN THERE!" the wife exclaimed to Hank, confirming his worst fears. "All" referred to his paramedics, Roy DeSoto and John Gage, and their patient – the woman's husband.

"Is there any other way out?" Hank asked her.

"NO!"

His professionalism took over. "Stand on the sides, to put the streams off the walls!" he ordered Chet and Marco. "We don't want to back the fire into 'em!"

He and his firefighters worked quickly, helped by equally rapid work from Engineer Mike Stoker at Big Red.

In a way, too rapid for Hank….

The engine crew continued to aim streams of water on the walls of the garage to put the fire out quickly and determine the fate of Squad 51 and their patient….

Much of the fire was out. Now came the hard part – assessing the damage and determining whether that included victims.

"CO2, Marco, OK Pal?"

And maybe some oxygen for me, Hank thought quietly.

Time stopped as Hank and Chet walked slowly into the charred garage – into discovering the fate of Hank's paramedics and their patient….

I want to know. But I don't want to know, Hank admitted to himself.

All was still.

I want to know. But I don't want to know….

Then, a tarp in the back of the garage began to move. Hank's eyebrows went up.

Out of the tarp came Roy and Johnny and their patient – apparently none the worse for wear.

Hank found his voice.

"Are…you…guys…all…right?" he asked slowly, with a tone of disbelief.

"Yeah. A little warm, but I think we're fine," Johnny responded. "Hey, Roy, I think he's probably got a couple of broken ribs."

The trio made way for the safety of the outdoors.

How did they - Hank began to wonder, then stopped.

As Johnny, Roy and the patient left the garage, Hank turned his attention back as Marco came in with the fire extinguisher.

Then the patient's wife began to cry. Hank turned around.

"Some people are naturally never happy, you know?" the patient joked.

Johnny chuckled and reassured the woman.

Hank let out a deep breath before turning his attention back to Marco and the extinguisher. Just then, Chet entered the garage with the smoke ejector.

Hank scanned his eyes around the charred garage and back to the corner the three men had come from.

From the call, he knew the patient had been pinned under the car.

Hank's eyes fell on an oil pan. He realized what had triggered the explosion and fire.

How did they get out of that?

Hank shook his head, turned around and looked at his paramedics. Roy was now on the Biophone to Rampart, while Johnny was taking the patient's vitals.

He began to picture what they could have possibly done to get their patient out of the way.

"Cap?"

Chet's voice interrupted his thoughts. Hank turned back to his lineman.

"I think we can do some cleanup now."

"Right, Chet."

"You OK, Cap?" Chet's face showed concern.

Hank smiled. The source of "The Phantom" didn't like to focus on it, but Chet Kelly had a big heart. "Yeah, Chet. I'm fine….."

E!E!E!E!E!E!E!E!

Squad 51 recovered the patient with broken ribs and transported him to Rampart, Hank typed in his report. There were no other injuries.

Hank signed the report, sighed and sat back. He finally allowed himself a dark thought:

I – we – could have lost them today.

But we didn't.

Thank goodness, he thought, as he put the report in the "OUT" box.

THE END