By 1:33, the Vigilant firefighters on the roof had cut 3 holes, letting out large amounts of smoke. The mayday was 3 minutes in by this point.
The leader of Vigilant roofing ops, an older firefighter named Mairwen Jones, said after replying to something on the radio, "Alright, everybody listen up. The captain asked us to see if we could perhaps enter the building to assist the RIT team. Mask up and meet me at the stairs to the fifth floor."
Yang trembled as she took her helmet off to put her mask on. She had never been involved in the rescue of a fellow firefighter before, and she was scared. Weiss looked at her after she put her mask on and said, "Don't be so tense, Yang. We'll get them out."
As the team walked to the door that led to the stairs, Yang said to Weiss, "This is my ultimate test."
"Indeed. Don't worry. Whatever happens, we'll get through it." Weiss patted Yang on the shoulder as they walked down the stairs to the fifth floor, which was enveloped in thick, blinding smoke.
Mairwen radioed their location as they walked through the smoke and looked for the stairs to the fourth floor. Each floor was about 20 feet high and designed for holding meat in refrigerated environments to keep them unspoiled. The warehouse had been unused for about 10 years.
Weiss and Yang spread out along the expansive floor. Yang said, "That flashlight I just put on my helmet doesn't even help."
"You can say that again," Weiss replied. She then found something. "Hey! I think I found the stairs! I'm gonna radio it in!"
Once the team gathered around the stairs to the fourth floor, Mairwen said, "Let's roll." She then led the firefighters down the steps. As they went down, they could see the smoke get darker and they could feel the heat rising, indicating they were getting closer to the actual fire.
Then, a radio message came on that sent shockwaves down the firefighters present at 1:46. "RIT 1 to IC, mayday, mayday, mayday!"
Weiss said, "Oh fuck, now RIT 1 is trapped!"
"Unit calling the mayday, where are you?"
"We're on the fourth floor, bravo exposure. We've located the Kroeger firefighters, but we're lost now too. Activate all RIT teams to respond to our location!"
"10-4, all units, IC will be transmitting a fifth and sixth alarm. IC to all RIT teams, go to the fourth floor, bravo exposure, to rescue the firefighters calling in the mayday!"
Mairwen said to the team, "Let's hurry it up!" The team got to the fourth floor and began hearing PASS devices going off, but they couldn't figure out which direction they were coming from.
Yang shouted, "CAN ANYONE FROM RIT 1 OR KROEGER HEAR ME?! ANYONE?!"
Weiss shouted, "ANYBODY FROM RIT 1 OR KROEGER?!"
A voice weakly shouted back from across the floor, "HERE!"
Weiss, Yang, and another firefighter ran to the direction of the voice. When they got there, they found a paid firefighter, presumably from RIT 1, crawling on his knees outside of a doorway to an office, tired out.
Weiss said, "Where's the rest of you guys?"
"I'll... I'll try to retrace..."
Weiss called, "Mairwen! Get over here! I found an RIT guy!" She and Yang then ran into the office section, a maze of different rooms that had been haphazardly laid out to hold the original owner's corporate offices.
As Weiss and Yang ran through the maze, they could hear the PASS devices going off like crazy. Yang said, "Those PASS things are driving me fucking nuts."
Eventually, Weiss heard some shuffling out in front of her and said, "Who's there?"
An RIT guy replied, "Help us!"
Weiss and Yang ran over and saw 2 RIT guys attempt to drag an unconscious Kroeger firefighter. He had ran out of air and was close to slipping into a coma. Weiss and Yang immediately took over and began dragging the Kroeger firefighter out of the maze.
At 1:53, they emerged from the maze with a Kroeger firefighter. By the time they did, at least 35 other firefighters had shown up to rescue the other trapped firefighters inside the offices. 3 other firefighters immediately ran to the unconscious Kroeger firefighter and grabbed him from Yang and Weiss. Mairwen said to them, "Grab the next one to come out and run them to the roof!"
Weiss nodded as she heard her low-air alarm begin to go off. "Mairwen, we gotta go now!"
Mairwen replied, "My low-air alarm's going off!" She then radioed, "All Vigilant Interior firefighters, immediately evacuate to the roof!"
Weiss and Yang began running like hell to the stairs, not wanting to run out of air while still in the building. Several times, they almost tripped and fell over several objects in the blinding smoke.
As they made it to the fifth floor, calamity struck. Their masks stuck to their faces as they ran out of air. Weiss took her helmet off and ripped her mask off, immediately coughing as she took in smoke. Yang panicked and fell over, ripping her helmet and mask off.
Weiss said weakly, "Hold on." She then grabbed her helmet, put it back on, and walked over to Yang. She then helped her up, grabbed her helmet, and began walking with her to the stairs to the roof. As they slowly climbed up the stairs, they heard voices behind them.
Mairwen, still having some air, said, "Weiss! Yang!"
Eventually, after what seemed like forever, Weiss and Yang finally made it to the roof at 2:00. As soon as they were clear of the smoke, Yang collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, coughing up soot. Weiss fell to her knees and also began coughing.
Mairwen ran to them, took her helmet and mask off, and radioed for Weiss and Yang to be extracted from the roof immediately. The rest of the team followed and picked the 2 girls up. Weiss was helped up and weakly walked over to the tip of the aerial ladder, while Yang was carried by another firefighter.
When they reached the ground, they were both immediately attended to by several firefighters. Weiss was given a bottle of water to drink from, and Yang was placed on a stretcher and carted off to an ambulance.
After Weiss finished the bottle, she took her SCBA off and ran to Yang. She said to her, "You'll be okay, Yang, we're gonna get you..." She then coughed. "We're gonna get you to the hospital." She then boarded the ambulance with Yang.
At 3:45, Ruby arrived at the hospital and visited Yang and Weiss. By now, they were waiting on more information from the scene in regards to the trapped firefighters. Yang was lying in a hospital bed, and Weiss was standing next to her, still wearing her rolled-down hip boots.
Yang said to Ruby and Weiss as she checked her phone, "I'm still trying to look for updates. Nothing's coming out yet."
Then, George walked in. He said, "Yang, Ruby, Weiss, I have some bad news." He had just gotten back from the fireground.
Weiss instantly noticed George's demeanour and nodded solemnly.
"They pulled 4 guys out last time I checked, and 2 of them were pronounced dead on the scene. They ordered all firefighters out of the building right after I left. That was at 3:28."
Ruby then received a notification on her phone from a social media site called NowLook. The VCFD had an account on the site that Ruby had subscribed to. She read it, and right after, she dropped her phone in shock.
Weiss picked it up and read out loud, "It is with a heavy heart that we announce that at least 5 firefighters have died and 12 have been severely injured in a 7-alarm fire in District 1. We will release the names and companies/stations of the fallen and injured as we get more information."
Yang's jaw dropped as she said, "Oh my God... No way..."
Weiss replied, "You can say that again. We haven't had an incident resulting in 2 or more firefighter deaths since 2015. This is the deadliest fire involving LODDs since 2009."
George asked, "What went wrong in 2009?"
"7 guys died when a floor collapsed on top of them at a fire in District 6. That was pretty bad." Weiss sighed. "To think, Yang, that guy we pulled out probably didn't make it. He had been unconscious for a while. Fucking sucks..."
George walked up to Yang and hugged her head, telling her, "It's okay. You 2 did your best."
Yang hugged George back and began to cry. "We... We didn't save..."
October 18, 2020
After the funeral service for the fallen firefighters had ended, Vigilant Fire Company met at their station to discuss what had happened at the fire at 7:30 PM.
Arthur Kirkridge was the first to speak. "Now, ladies and gents, as we all know, we lost 10 firefighters on the 12th. 10 damn good firefighters. 6 were from Kroeger Hose Company, 2 were from the Port Complex Station 2, 1 was from Tuxedo Fire Company, and 1 was from Port Complex Station 1. Between then, they had about 104 years of experience. Words honestly cannot express how I feel about it. I'm honestly blown away by it. We haven't had an incident this bad in years. Now, as you also may know, several of our firefighters almost became trapped trying to rescue the others. You guys did a tremendous job in trying to rescue them, even if you almost ran out of air."
Hermann then stepped up and said, "If anyone is feeling down about this to a rather unhealthy degree, please talk to someone. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we do not need one of you killing yourselves over this. Anyways, because Kroeger lost so many of its members, we've decided to donate 12500 Lien, 5 SCBA sets, 3 pike poles, 2 axes, 5 50-foot lengths of 2 1/2 hose, 5 50-foot lengths of 1 3/4 hose, and 5 sets of turnout gear to them. We will put it to a vote now. Blake, Iomhair, you will guard the ballot box. The rest of you, go and vote."
The ballot box was an old blackball box dating from 1892. It had white and black balls in it. Blake and Iomhair went up to the box, cast their votes, and then stood guard as the other firefighters walked over and cast their votes.
Once the votes were cast, Blake and Iomhair walked the ballot box over to the officers of the company. Alfred said, "We will announce the results of this vote later in the meeting. Now, does anyone have anything else to say?"
A firefighter who served as the company librarian raised his hand and said, "I do. I received 5 new books to add to the company library. I'll be adding them and cataloguing them tonight. 3 are fiction and 2 are non-fiction. I bought the books using 325 Lien from the company budget. The treasurer already knows of this."
"Okay then," Arthur replied. "Anyways, I forgot to mention another thing. On the 31st, we'll have the Independence Day Dance. I need a committee of at least 5 people to oversee the event. We'll also be using the paid guys to help set things up. Any volunteers?"
Weiss and Ruby raised their hands, soon followed by Theresa and 4 other firefighters. Hermann said, "Alrighty, that's 7. If any of you want to join, we'll offer it again on Wednesday next week."
Alfred then said, "Alright, I'll announce the results of the vote. We voted "yes" to donate the assorted gear and money to Kroeger Hose Company on 18 October, 2020. The company officers will oversee the delivery of the supplies to Kroeger on Wednesday, 21 October, 2020. Motion to dismiss this meeting."
Yang raised her hand, "I second this motion."
Ruby raised her hand, "I third this motion."
"Alright then," Arthur said. "Meeting dismissed."
October 21, 2020
At 6, the regular company meeting was called to order in the apparatus bay. Hermann said, "Alright, tonight we'll be doing bailouts from the second floor. Everybody get your gear on and meet me upstairs in the ballroom."
Upstairs, the firefighters formed a line at 2 of the windows. Ruby, still out of service due to her injury, recorded bailouts for one line while a paid firefighter recorded bailouts for the other line.
Weiss was first on Ruby's line. Ruby said, "Go for it"
She immediately began tying a rope she had around a pipe nearby and then tied the rope around her stomach. Once she was done tying all the necessary knots, she slid out of the window head first before stopping herself with her left foot. Now perched above the ground with her right leg hanging out, she slid her left leg out until her whole body was outside the window.
Now suspended by the rope, she rapelled down the side of the wall, her feet hitting the wall and then the garage doors several times, until she landed on the ground. She then got up and untied herself, throwing the rope back up to the other firefighters. "Here ya go!"
After 26 other people did bailouts, Weiss was getting ready to take her gear off, and Blake was getting ready to do her bailout, when they heard the pagers go off, quickly followed by the siren tones.
"Vale City Fire Alarm on the air for Box 228 for 154 Traders Avenue for a Bravo Response for a Carbon Monoxide alarm going off in Apartment 33 on the 5th floor for Vigilant Fire 5 and Goodwill Engine 6. Repeating, Vale City Fire Alarm on the air for Box 228 for 154 Traders Avenue for a Bravo Response for a Carbon Monoxide alarm going off in Apartment 33 on the 5th floor. Time is 1853 hours, Alarm Operator 433."
Weiss immediately ran to the rescue and started it up, climbing into the driver's seat. The 2 paid firefighters ran to the ambulance and also started it up. Within a minute and a half after the tones dropped, the ambulance rolled out the door, soon followed by the rescue and then the truck.
Ruby watched from upstairs as the trucks rolled out. She sighed and said to herself, "Just another day in Vale."