Zootopia: Tower 1
Chapter 2: Rescue Me (Fontella Bass)
There are differences between being a cop and being a firefighter. One being as a rookie you're not given the short end of the stick when you start out in the service. Instead, you are thrown into the fire to prove yourself. That is what happened only two hours into settling down at the station. This is exactly what I am professionally trained to do.
The alarm sounded, and Marlene bolted off the couch and grabbed the message from the dispatcher on the fax machine. I pulled up my boots and pants, and ran to the engine while putting on my jacket. We firefighters work with a system to be ready for anything because when you call 911, and we're not ready the whole system falls apart.
"What've we got?" I asked, getting into the quint unit and sitting next to Marlene the Euro-Badger.
"Structure fire on 15th and Grove Street, ready to earn your stripes to go with your spots?" Marlene asked, she and Vicky were being good friends of mine at the station. Vicky Fox is the engineer of our quint unit. It's her job to drive the truck to the scene of a fire. I got a kick out of the joke they pulled yesterday. I was ready to do my duty.
There is no feeling like this. There is a certain kind of rush that comes knowing that you're going into a burning building to put out a fire. You're dancing with the demon. We rushed out of the station with sirens sounding, and the air horns blasting to tell everyone to get out of the way. I could feel the all the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
We arrived at the scene, and a fire was raging out of control on the seventh floor. I prepared my breathing apparatus, and put on my hood and helmet. The residents were a family of raccoons, but there was a problem, a big problem, "MY SON! MY SON IS STILL IN THERE! PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!" the mother screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Don't worry, ma'am, we'll find your son, Fischer you're up!" He ordered to me, as the hoses were connected to the hydrants,
"I'm on it, sir!" I said running to get the hose from one of the trucks.
I was getting the hose from the quint unit while Vicky was preparing the outriggers. We have compartments for medical supplies between the two windows on each side of the cabs in our quint and tanker trucks. The police and paramedics were arriving on the scene as Captain Whitetail and I were climbing up the stairs to the seventh floor.
Vicky was at the controls of the ladder while Firefighter Bainbridge the Leopard was going up in it with the nozzle to put the wet stuff on the red stuff, "Let's go, Fischer, I've got your back!" said Captain Whitetail helping me carry the hose while carrying an axe to break down the door. The captain broke through the lock, and the door burst open.
"GO-GO-GO!" yelled Captain Whitetail over the roaring flames as we entered the burning apartment. A wall of heat soon hit me head on.
The fire roared like a beast conjured up from a nightmare, "Fire department, anybody here!" I called out, I heard sniffling and crying coming from the corner of the bathroom. I took the captain's axe, and broke down the window, "alright, I need you to be brave for me, there's a nice man in the ladder coming to rescue you," I said to the boy.
He nodded as I picked him up, and Kyle was there with the ladder to come and get him, "Gotcha little guy, don't worry you're safe now," said Kyle as he was coming down the ladder to give the son back to his mother. The hose was charged, and the Captain and I started to fight back the blaze, hitting the flames high just like I was taught in school.
This fire was running around, going from one side of the apartment to the other, and we were running the risk of the ceiling falling on me and Captain Whitetail. We were lucky to get the boy out in time. We had only seconds to find the boy, and get him out. On top of that, we have only fifteen minutes left of air in our breathing apparatuses.
We were racing against the clock, but for the first time in my life I felt like a hero, "Good work, rookie, I think you got what it takes," said the Captain,
When the fire was out, we came down the stairs to the cheers of the other firefighters. Now we needed to find out how the fire was started, "Looks like a baking accident," I said expecting the oven, and finding a loaf of bread or at least what looks like a loaf of bread. The apartment colored white, and dripping with foamy water from the fire hose.
"Good work today, Firefighter Fischer, there's a saying we have in the fire service, it doesn't matter whose wearing the uniform, but the actions of the person wearing the uniform, you dig?" said the Captain being the wise old hand that he is. The police were soon on the scene, "sorry guys, no arson here, just a baking SNAFU," he said to them.
"Hey, you're the new firefighter at Station 14, you're the first seal I've ever met, but I guess there's a first time for everything, Judy Hopps," said the rabbit cop,
"Molly Fischer," I replied with a smile shaking her hand. What a sweetheart she is. This was my first day on the job, and my first fire. I could believe it, actually. You never know when the emergency alarm will sound. You call 911, and you call for help then you know that we will be there. The motto of the firefighter is very simple: 'be prepared'.
Tower Company 1 and Engine Company 3
Captain Charles Whitetail (European Badger)
Engineer Victoria 'Vicky' Fox (Black Fox)
Engineer Wilson Cade (Mountain Lion)
Firefighter Kyle Bainbridge (Leopard)
Firefighter Marlene Fourcade (European Badger)
Firefighter Molly Fischer (Common Harbor Seal)
Firefighter Delvin Williams (Melanistic Jaguar/Black Panther)
Firefighter Collin Hollingsworth (Wolverine)