Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Mattel. All OCs belong to me.
Chapter 32
Two years later – January 1987
It was a quiet, but bitterly cold winter's day in Cardiff. In fact, it was one of the coldest days on record, with a maximum temperature below zero. Despite the inclement weather, a few people had bravely ventured out to face the conditions.
Inside the Cardiff Central Fire Station, my crew on White Watch were warm, but bored. Aside from rescuing the odd vehicle that had become stuck in the snow, we'd had very little to do for the past week. As a result, I was starting to resort to playing practical jokes on my colleagues to keep myself occupied.
I was now twenty years old, and I was living a successful independent life. When my late grandad's townhouse had finally sold, I'd used the money to purchase another townhouse about a five-minute drive from the fire station. Although I now lived permanently in Cardiff, I always went home to Pontypandy for Christmas, my birthday and Mother's and Father's Day.
On this particular afternoon, I was downstairs in the appliance bay with Harry. We were inside the cab of one of the pump-ladder appliances, which was parked in the centre bay. I'd opened the roller door to halfway, to enable my latest practical joke to be completely effective. Whenever someone walked past, Harry and I would duck down on the seat, and we'd take turns wolf-whistling through the on-board speaker system. The appliance didn't need to be turned on for the speakers to work, so the people walking past wouldn't know where the wolf-whistling was coming from. We took it in turns to whistle, because it wasn't easy to whistle and laugh at the same time. While one of us was whistling, the other would peek through the windscreen to see the results of our prank. Some of our victim's startled reactions were hilarious! One poor lady even dropped her shopping bag on the driveway as a result, and I caused a well-dressed businessman to slip over on a patch of black ice.
We were just wolf-whistling at our sixteenth victim, when someone opened the passenger-side cab door. It just happened to be the side of the cab that I was sitting on. I gasped when I recognised that it was Senior Divisional Officer McCullum.
"What the devil do you two think you're doing?" he demanded.
"Erm… We were just…" I began.
"Testing the loudspeakers," Harry finished. He did his best to sound convincing, but considering we were still lying down on the bench seat inside the cab, it was obvious that SDO McCullum wouldn't buy that explanation.
"Out of there now!"
Harry and I quickly obeyed. While we were scrambling out of the cab, SDO McCullum went into the watch room, and he pressed the internal doorbell. A moment later, Station Officer Michaels came down the stairs.
"Oh! SDO McCullum. It's nice to see you again."
"I wish I could say the same," SDO McCullum snapped. "I've just caught two of your crew hiding inside the cab of that appliance, wolf-whistling at passers-by through the loud-speakers."
Station Officer Michaels raised an eyebrow at us. "Would you mind explaining yourself, Leading Fireman McArthur?"
"It was my…" I began, but SDO McCullum cut me off.
"HE WASN'T ASKING YOU!" he shouted in my face.
Stunned, I dropped my gaze.
"To be fair, sirs, Fireman Jones and I both thought up this scheme," Harry said. "I apologise for the both of us for our behaviour. I realise now that it was completely childish and tasteless."
SDO McCullum shook his head in disgust. "Of course, you apologise NOW! After the fact! You're a fine example of a leading fireman! Station Officer Michaels, I know that crew discipline is your domain, but I'd like your permission to punish these two hooligans myself."
"Permission granted," Station Officer Michaels replied. I knew he'd agree, since he really couldn't refuse his own senior officer.
SDO McCullum sneered at us. "Both of you! On the ground, now! You'll do a hundred push-ups without stopping! Station Officer Michaels will keep count."
Reluctantly, Harry and I both lay face-down on the ground, and we started doing push-ups. Although I was wearing woollen gloves, I could feel just how cold the concrete was beneath my hands. While we were undergoing our punishment, SDO McCullum pressed the button to close the roller door.
Harry and I managed to keep roughly the same pace as each other until we reached about fifty push-ups. That was when Harry started to tire. Due to my natural competitiveness, I continued doing push-ups at the same pace I'd started at, determined to outdo Harry.
I reached a hundred push-ups first. As soon as I'd finished, I stood up and I saluted SDO McCullum. He glared sternly at me.
"This isn't the army, Fireman Jones, although I'm glad to see that you're disciplined enough to respect authority. I hope I never have to discipline you again." And with that, he turned on his heels and march away upstairs.
Once SDO McCullum was out of sight, I breathed a sigh of relief. Wearily, Harry staggered to his feet. Station Officer Michaels exhaled heavily, and he rubbed his forehead with his right hand.
"Oh, you two are the bane of my life right now! I really need to seriously consider separating you. Sam? I'd like to talk to you in my office now, please."
I gently slapped the back of my hand against Harry's chest. "Guess I asked for it, huh?"
Reluctantly, I followed Station Officer Michaels upstairs to his office. Once we were inside, I closed the door behind me. Then, I stood quietly in front of the desk while he sat down behind it. He motioned for me to sit also, so I did.
"Sam, I've been going through your record recently. Aside from a handful of complaints about pranks that you've played on other officers, you've proven yourself to be a capable fireman. So, with your permission, I'd like to put your name forward for the next leading fireman's course."
My eyes widened in surprise. "Do you really think I could become a leading fireman, sir?"
"I don't see why not? You're a natural leader and, if nothing else, it'll mean more work for you, which will help us curb your energy. You young men never cease to amaze me by just how much energy you have."
I grinned. Just then, the station's bell rang once, signalling to us that lunch was ready. Station Officer Michaels and I both stood up.
"So, are you happy for me to enrol you in the course?" Station Officer Michaels asked me.
"Of course! Will it take place here?"
"No, it'll be at the Cardiff Fire Academy. It's a six-week course. There is one thing though, Sam. If you do qualify as a leading fireman, you'll most likely be transferred to another station."
"Oh. Well, as long as I get to stay in Cardiff, I really don't mind."
"I'm afraid that won't be up to me," Station Officer Michaels said as he opened the office door. "That'll be up to the Chief Fire Officer to decide. You could be sent wherever they need you; to any station within the South Glamorgan Fire Brigade district."
"I see… Well, I still want to do the course, please."
"Very well then. I'll organise it for you."
A moment later, Station Officer Michaels followed me into the small mess room. The rest of White Watch were already in the room, either getting served their lunch, or seated around the large table. I picked up two plates, and I handed one to Station Officer Michaels.
"What's for lunch?" I asked the station's permanent cook. She was a middle-aged lady named Shirley. Since she spent most of her time in the kitchen, I only really saw her at mealtimes.
"Shephard's pie, mushy peas, boiled potatoes and carrots," Shirley answered. "And you'll eat it whether you like it or not."
"Lucky I do like it." I held out my plate so she could load it up with food.
"And what's for dessert?" Station Officer Michaels asked.
"What makes you think you'll be getting any?" Shirley teased. "Gimme a kiss, and I'll tell you."
I chuckled as Station Officer Michaels rolled his eyes.
"The things I do for my stomach!" he joked. Then, he leaned in and planted a kiss on Shirley's cheek. I couldn't resist wolf-whistling. The rest of the watch quickly joined in, cat-calling and whistling at our boss.
Shirley blushed profusely. "Oh, you men! Dessert is bread and butter pudding with marmalade sauce."
"My favourite!" I exclaimed excitedly.
Shirley handed my plate back to me. "You need to be a good boy then and eat your main course first! I'm not going to let any of you leave this room hungry."
"That's hardly likely," Harry scoffed.
Shirley shook a knife in Harry's direction. "If it weren't for me, you men wouldn't get a decent meal at all! Someone needs to make sure you all eat properly."
I sat down next to Harry at the table, and I started eating. Now that we all had food in front of us, the noise in the room quietened. As Station Officer Michaele made his way to his seat at the head of the table, he frowned when he saw a fireman named Percy reading a newspaper under the table.
"Put that away, Percy," he ordered. "This is mealtime, not reading-time."
"Hey, you might be interested in this, sir," Percy said, ignoring the order. "As of January, female firefighters will now be accepted into officer roles within all British fire brigades. Huh! Well, I don't want a woman bossing me around. It's bad enough being bossed around by my wife!"
"If you ask me, you need bossing around," Harry retorted.
"I didn't ask you," Percy retorted.
"I don't see anything wrong with it," I said. "If they can do the job, why can't they become officers?"
"You'll understand once you're married, Sam," Percy warned. "The last thing I want is a female superior officer. Women think they know everything, but they don't. I can't stand these feminist movements."
"I would've thought you were in one, since you scream like a girl," Harry teased.
Percy retorted by tossing a mushy pea at Harry. However, his aim was bad, and the pea landed on my shoulder instead.
"Hey!" I protested. "Don't take it out on me!" And I flicked the pea back in his direction. However, I missed, and the pea landed on Fireman Daniel's knife.
"What did you do that for, Sam?" Daniel cried. "I had nothing to do with this!" With a flick of his knife, he sent the pea flying back towards Percy. Luckily, his aim was much better than ours, and the pea landed right on top of Percy's shepherd's pie.
"Oh, yuck!" Percy exclaimed. "That's disgusting!"
"Not half as disgusting as your behaviour, Percy!" Station Officer Michaels snapped. "If I see any more food flying across this table, you'll all spend the rest of the day cleaning this entire room."
With that threat hanging over our heads, we resumed eating our meals. I still had a few mouthfuls left to eat when the alarm bells sounded.
"Ah! Duty calls!" Station Officer Michaels declared.
As we leapt from our seats, some of my colleagues grabbed a non-permanent marker pen from the pile on the centre of the table. They used the pen to write their initials on their plates, so they could return to the rest of their meals later. Since I had almost finished, I decided not to bother marking my plate. Shirley would clear up after we'd gone, keeping any marked plates warm in the ovens for when we got back.
I jogged down the hallway towards the nearest fireman's pole. Since I was now the designated driver for one of the pump ladder appliances, I needed to be one of the first ready to leave. I slid easily down the fireman's pole, landing lightly on my feet at the bottom.
"Fire on the sixth floor of the Holiday Inn Hotel, Custom House Street! All units required!" Harry shouted from the watch room. He handed a copy of the teleprint-out to me as I hurried past him. I took a quick glance at the teleprint as I jogged over to my assigned appliance. Someone pressed the button to open the appliance bay roller doors. As soon as the doors opened, a gust of icy winter wind swirled inside the appliance bay, bringing some freshly fallen snow with it. I pulled on my firefighting pants as quickly as possible before I climbed into the cab. The rest of my uniform was already inside, hanging over the back of the driver's seat, while my helmet was perched on the dashboard. Since seatbelts weren't mandatory for the emergency services at that time, I turned on the ignition while I closed the door.
Station Officer Michaels leapt into the passenger side of the cab next to me, while the rest of the crew assigned to my appliance piled into the back of the cab. Once I was sure that everyone was in and that all of the doors were closed, I activated the siren and strobe lights before I accelerated the appliance out of the station.
Station Officer Michaels picked up the in-cab radio's handset. "WS51P2 to Cardiff Control. Responding to Holiday Inn Hotel fire. ETA two minutes. Over."
"Cardiff Control to WS51P2. Confirming that you are en-route to the Holiday Inn Hotel fire and that your ETA is two minutes. Over."
"WS51P2 to Cardiff Control. Affirmative. Over."
"Cardiff Control to WS51P2. Situation Confirmed at one twenty-three p.m. Out."
While Station Officer Michaels was talking to Cardiff Control, I was concentrating on driving the appliance as quickly and as safely as possible along the icy streets. Luckily, I was following the aerial appliance, so that made it a little easier for me to avoid most of the patches of black ice.
"Steady, Sam," Station Officer Michaels warned as we felt the rear wheels of the appliance skid on a patch of black ice. Since we were going straight at the time, it wasn't hard for me to correct the rear.
"I've got it under control, sir," I reassured him.
When I turned the appliance onto Custom House Street, it didn't take us long to spot the fire. The Holiday Inn Hotel was thirteen stories tall, and the flames were already licking the external wall about halfway up, where the windows had blown out. A large crowd were gathered on the other side of the street, and more people were running out of the hotel as part of the evacuation.
I parked our appliance behind the aerial platform, and we all got out. My colleagues in the back had already put on their BA equipment during the short journey, so they were immediately ready to go inside. After I'd put on the rest of my uniform, I started helping by bowling out firehoses.
"Sam?" Station Officer Michaels called to me after a few minutes. "Leave that and get your BA on! I'm sending you in part of team Gamma." Then, he spoke into his radio. "Cardiff Central I.C. to Cardiff Control. Make pumps ten and send a couple of ambulances. We need more aerial ladder appliances too. Over."
It only took me a couple of minutes to put on my BA and test my oxygen supply. When I was ready, I returned to Station Officer Michaels. I handed him the tag from my oxygen cylinder.
"Fireman Jones; air ninety-two percent," I told him. He wrote that information down on his BA board.
"Sam, I want you to lead team Gamma," Station Officer Michaels told me. "We have persons reported, so I want you to get up to the sixth floor and clear it. Take a firehose with you for protection. Teams Alpha and Beta are already on the sixth floor, but they have their hands full with the fire."
"Understood, sir," I replied. I secured my oxygen mask over my face and I lowered my helmet visor. Then, I turned to face the three other men who'd been selected to make up the rest of team Gamma. "Let's go in."
One of the men with me picked up a firehose and, after testing it, he followed us inside. We made our way up a flight of stairs that wound around the lifts until we reached the sixth floor. Once we got there, we were greeted by a thick wall of smoke. I couldn't even see my own hands in front of my face. The fireman carrying the hose went ahead of us. I turned to the rest of my crew.
"We'll start here and make our way along the hallway," I instructed. "Make sure you check each room as thoroughly as you can." I turned to the man with the firehose. "Keep us cool."
"Copy," he replied. He turned the firehose onto a spray jet, creating a cooling barrier between us and the radiant heat of the fire. "Be alert for flashovers!"
I moved to the first door on my right, and I kicked it in. With the aid of my torch, I searched each smoke-filled room as thoroughly as I could. Finding nobody, I returned to the hallway to regroup with the rest of my team. Having cleared the first three rooms, we moved along the hallway to the next set of rooms.
As we worked our way along the hallway, we drew closer to where the fire was burning. Luckily, the cooling spray from our firehose helped keep the worst of the radiant heat away from us.
I was halfway through searching a room when Station Officer Michaels radioed me.
"I.C. to team Gamma. SITREP, now."
"Team Gamma to I.C. Rooms are all clear so far, sir," I replied. "We've only got a few more to search before we reach teams Alpha and Beta."
"Copy. When you reach the other teams, I want you to take over from team Alpha."
"Roger that, sir."
"I.C. Out."
I kicked in another door and I entered the smoke-filled room. As I did, I thought I heard a cry.
"Is anyone in here?" I shouted.
I heard another cry, louder this time, off to my left. I made my way in that direction, but as I did, my foot kicked something soft. Bending down, I used my torchlight to see what I'd kicked. It was an arm. Moving my torch, I focussed the light on the body lying next to me. It was that of a young Caucasian woman with long blonde hair. I gently brushed the woman's hair off her neck, and I felt for her pulse. I sighed sadly when I realised that she was already dead from smoke inhalation.
The cry sounded again. Crawling on my hands and knees, I followed the cry until I saw what was making it. There, lying on the floor on a dainty white blanket, was a baby girl. I naturally assumed that she was a girl, because she was wearing a pale pink jumpsuit that had the worlds 'Mummy's Little Angel' embroidered on the front. A rattle and a baby's dummy were lying on the blanket next to her.
Upon seeing me, the baby screamed. I ignored her terrified screams as I set about wrapping her up in the blanket to protect her from the smoke and radiant heat. Then, I pocketed her toy and her dummy before I lifted the precious bundle into my arms.
"Fireman Jones to I.C. I've located a woman and a baby. The woman is deceased, but the baby is alive. I'm bringing her out now. We'll need paramedics on stand-by with oxygen. Over."
"Message received, Fireman Jones. Cancel previous order. Withdraw team Gamma. Repeat. Team Gamma withdraw. Over."
"Copy that, sir. Team Gamma withdrawing."
A few minutes later, I led my team out of the burning building, carrying the baby safely in my arms. We were followed by team Alpha, who'd been relieved by team Delta. Without even bothering to remove my oxygen mask, I jogged over to a waiting ambulance. It had stopped snowing by then, but the sky was still heavily overcast.
When I reached the ambulance, I handed the baby over to a female paramedic. Then, I finally removed my oxygen mask.
"I found her in a room filled with smoke," I explained to the paramedics. "Her mother was already deceased."
"Thank you, we'll take it from here," the female paramedic replied as she gently lay the baby down on a stretcher inside the ambulance.
I reached into my pocket and I removed the baby's dummy and toy. I stepped inside the ambulance just as the paramedic started administering oxygen to the tiny baby.
"I found these next to her," I explained as I placed the items down on the stretcher above the baby's head. "She was lying on the floor when I found her, so I think that saved her life; being below the worst of the smoke and heat."
"She's not out of danger yet, but you've given her a fighting chance," the paramedic replied. She smiled slightly at me. "Wrapping her in the blanket helped stop her breathing in too much smoke, so I think she'll make it. You've done your best."
I nodded before I stepped out of the ambulance. Looking up at the hotel, I could see that the firemen attacking the fire from the outside of the building had started to get it under control. I walked over to Station Officer Michaels.
"Fireman Jones reporting, sir," I said to him. I was a little breathless now from the exertion and adrenalin rush that I'd just gone through.
Station Officer Michaels handed the tag from my oxygen cylinder back to me. I pushed it back into its clip, and I shut off the oxygen. Station Officer Michaels signed next to my name on the BA board, indicating that I was accounted for.
"You may stand down now, Sam," he told me. "The fire is under control, and back-up has arrived. I'll be making up our brigade shortly."
I started to walk back to my appliance when Station Officer Michaels called to me.
"Sam?"
I turned to face him. "Sir?"
"I have no doubts that you'll make an excellent leading fireman. What you did today has proven that to me."
"Thank you for your confidence in me, sir. I'll try not to let you down."
