Part III
The sight of Mike crumpled against the side of the engine worried Hank, but there wasn't time to evaluate his man. Hoping he wasn't making any injuries worse in the process, he hefted Mike up and got him around to the other side just before another explosion sent a fireball into the sky. For a moment, he was afraid he might lose his balance, but a combination of determination, adrenaline and luck kept him upright.
Mentally he cursed the watchman that had fled the scene - he was the only one that might know where the records were kept so that they could get a hold of whoever was renting those buildings. Somebody had decided to make their own rules and it was his men that were paying the price.
He searched around before spotting Roy and Johnny next to the squad. Roy was leaning heavily against the side and Hank didn't like the look of his color one bit. Johnny was in the process of picking himself back off the ground. They couldn't wait much longer for help.
Lifting Mike to lay him in the back section of the squad, Hank gave a quick word to his paramedics before reaching into the squad and grabbing the radio.
"Dispatch, this is Station 51. We have had two more explosions here and I am currently the only man fully mobile. We need help in here and we need it now."
"Acknowledged, 51. Other units have been instructed to stay back until the threat can be identified."
"Dispatch, I have men who are in need of hospitalization. One is unconscious and one is losing blood. We have a third building that also possibly contains unstable substances and it is not far from our location."
Hank left unvoiced his concern that if that building went, he might lose one or more of his men. He felt like they were sitting on a time bomb with an unknown number of seconds to go before detonation.
"Station 51 - are any civilians left at your location?"
"Negative, dispatch. He has fled the scene."
"Station 51, are you able to pull back from the location?"
Hank looked to the engine. He could drive her out, but he wasn't going to leave his men at the squad.
"John! Do you think you can drive the squad?"
Hank winced - the disoriented look he was getting from Johnny made that a 'no'. Then Roy spoke up.
"How far, Captain?"
"We need to pull back to where the other engine, squad and ambulance are waiting."
"Get Johnny in the passenger seat - I can get us that far."
"Are you sure?"
"What choice do we have?"
Hank had to acknowledge that staying where they were was more dangerous than moving, so he helped Johnny into the passenger seat then helped Roy around to the driver's seat. He winced at the bloody metal still in his senior paramedic's left thigh and upper arm.
"It's not far, Roy. Just half a mile and then we'll let the other guys do the work. Take it real slow so Mike's not jostled out of the back."
His answer was a weak smile from Roy.
"I won't be trying to break any speed records. Unless there's one for the slowest half-mile."
"Good man. I'll be right behind you."
Hank took a moment to give another glance to make sure Mike was still firmly onboard before heading for the engine, disconnecting the hose connections and climbing into the cab. The lines would just have to be abandoned.
He was still uneasy about Roy driving in his condition, but Roy was the only other man with a semi-clear head at the moment. He brought the engine in line behind the squad and they crept out. They had just cleared the outer fence when the jolt of another explosion hit from behind. Hank winced as he saw Mike's body give a small bounce in the back of the squad, but thankfully he remained in place. Just a few more yards and the squad pulled to the side and parked.
It seemed only seconds later that they were being swarmed by their fellow firefighters. Roy and Johnny were pulled from the squad cab as other hands gently took Mike from the back to where a triage area was set up. Marco and Chet followed in short order, then Captain Stanley found himself being led over as well. He wanted to see how his men were doing, so he didn't object until he was fitted with oxygen.
"I'm fine - worry about my guys."
To Hank's surprise, the voice he heard next was Chief McConakee's.
"Everyone's being looked after, Captain. Just relax and breathe deeply. The doctors are concerned that you guys might have breathed some of that stuff in before you knew it was in the area. Your station has been stood down until all of you and your gear can be examined. Your engine took some shrapnel on the way out."
He felt the Chief's hand on his shoulder.
"You and your whole crew is going to be at the hospital for awhile, Hank. That stuff can cause fluid build-up in the lungs, but I'm told it's a delayed reaction to the exposure. The docs at Rampart want all of you under observation for forty-eight hours so that they can treat it if any of you start showing symptoms."
Hank looked at the rising smoke from where they'd been just short minutes before.
"Somebody probably thought they were saving money by storing their chemicals off-site like this. If we had come in with any idea of what we were dealing with, this could have turned out so differently."
The sound of the sirens of as the first ambulance left with Roy and Mike had Hank lifting his head to watch it briefly.
"I know. Come on, Hank. Let's get you into one of those ambulances. Kelly and Lopez are already loaded in the second one. Third one's just arriving for you and Gage."
Rampart's ER was a hive of activity as one ambulance after another delivered the A-shift crew. Dixie was already looking into having one of the larger rooms made ready. With them looking at a minimum of a forty-eight hour stay, everyone would stay saner if the crew could be kept together. Hank and Johnny were diagnosed with low grade concussions and ended up in the room first, followed in short order by Chet and Marco, whose concussions were more severe. All four of them would have been pacing if they'd been allowed to by the time Mike was brought in. Dixie accompanying him to fill the others in with his permission.
"Two cracked ribs and bruising. Not that it's generally a problem with Mike here, but he needs to refrain from talking for awhile. His throat is also showing signs of irritation from something he inhaled."
Then the voice Dixie had been expecting since she walked into the room. Johnny's.
"Where's Roy?"
"I hope he'll be joining the rest of you a little later. Roy's in surgery recovery right now. We were very lucky that neither of the shards that hit him nicked a major artery, but one of them hit bone and they had to remove it surgically to make sure they got all of it out. But everything is looking fine - they're starting him on antibiotics in his IV to ward off infections. Once he wakes up from the anesthesia, he'll be brought down."
Johnny flat out fretted until Roy actually was brought down and he could get a look at his partner for himself. Roy's color was still pastier than Johnny cared to see, but he knew that the blood that had been lost would take some time to replace.
Before even twenty-four hours were up, Hank, Mike and Roy were showing signs of fluid build up, but steps were taken immediately that Dr. Brackett hoped would help them avoid it turning into pneumonia. He was most concerned about Mike because of his rib damage.
Chief McConakee came in the next day and took a long look at the battered crew. After gaining Dr. Brackett's permission, the Chief brought a small group of five men and women to the hall outside of his men's room with Dixie and Dr. Brackett there.
"So - you decided the best way to avoid getting cited for improper chemical storage would be to store them off-site. In buildings that weren't blast rated, ventilated or in any way designed for that type of storage. Your actions put six men into the hospital - an entire fire station shift. I know you'll be facing fines, but what I want you to face is what this meant in terms other than money."
The group reluctantly looked in. Dr. Brackett went inside almost immediately as Chet was hit with severe nausea and lost what little food he'd been able to swallow earlier.
"Sorry, Kelly, we're going to get you hooked up with something to try and ease that. How are you feeling otherwise?"
"Like a train ran over me, then backed up and ran over me again, doc. The room keeps doing circles."
"Vertigo, eh? We'll see if we can give you something to combat that too. You had lead on your hose line, didn't you?"
Chet nodded, then regretted that as Dr. Brackett grabbed a basin. In the hallway, the obvious pain and misery that the crew was in was difficult to watch. Dixie gave them all a cool look. Those were her friends that had been injured and could have been killed.
"These men aren't out of danger yet. The chemical they were exposed to could cause pneumonia. If they had know that they were dealing with anything that toxic, they wouldn't have gone in without self-contained breathing systems on."
Chief McConakee escorted the group back out.
"You may think the regulations are extreme in some cases, but they're in place to try and prevent situations like this from occurring in the first place. You are all very lucky that no-one was killed or you would be facing much more serious charges than you already are."
In all, it would take three weeks before all of the crew of A-shift were certified as able to return to full-duty, with Roy and Mike being the final two to pass that hurdle. After role call, Captain Stanley called them all to the table.
"Two things - first, welcome back to Mike and Roy. It's good to see all the right faces at the table again. Second, I want to say I'm proud of how everyone pulled together. Things could have been a lot worse than they were if everyone hadn't. Marco taking a hard hit from trying to brace Chet at the initial blast. Mike getting Johnny over to Roy, Chet grabbing hold of my jacket to keep me from landing on my head. Roy driving the squad out despite his injuries. We were on our own and we made it through."
Suddenly the tones went off.
"Well, so much for sentiment, fellows - let's go do our jobs."
