It was 3am and the portable radio next to my bed came to life for the seventh time this shift. "Reported structural fire at the hazardous materials storage yard, west side units respond" Waking up half way to the engine co. I acknowledged the dispatch center " two-one copies, give me 2nd run structural, Tanker one-seven and a tanker from the east side. Bunkered out and climbing into the cab of the engine co. I was confident, ahh fuck that I was cocky. I had personally hand picked each member of my crew in who's hands I would be placing my life.
My crew is the best I have seen in awhile. First there is my engineer SrA Ricky Yasutake aka "Bukaki" aka "Pretty Ricky" he can handle a rig like nobody's business. Ricky can do the multiple Hydraulic calculations necessary to get me the water I need in 20 seconds. He looks like a octopus operating the pump hitting each switch with precision and opening each discharge effortlessly all while keeping track of the water coming into the rig and going out. Then we have my #1 hand lineman SrA Nick Crucet aka "lunchbox" aka " the Cuban refugee" he is built like a gorilla on steroids and can handle a fire hose with the skill of a $2 dollar whore sucking cock. Last but not least is my #2 hand lineman SrA John Reinoehl aka "Rhino". Rhino thinks on his feet and adapts to any situation quickly without second guessing himself. When I look at John I see my cocky know it all self 10 years ago.
Emergency lights blazing and air horn cutting through the morning silence I think to myself is this what I think this is? Weeks prior we did pre-incident surveys and the Haz-mat storage yard was a mess. The chemicals and substances stored there were not cataloged and tracked like in the states. We knew if we had a fire here it would be a battle. We rounded the corner and a mile away I could see the flames penetrating the dark sky broken up by explosions. Wind direction, temperature, humidity and a few hundred other factors were racing through my mind. "Ricky get me up wind and prepare for two 1 3/4" lines with a deck gun". "Nick your lead line, Rhino your back up and exposure protection" Looking back at them slight nods from each told me they knew exactly what I wanted. The sound of the air brake being engaged let me know Ricky was in the right spot.
I jumped out of the cab with the weight of 75lbs of gear bearing down on me. I hit the switch on my air mask, breathed deeply and headed towards the front of the truck where Nick had pulled our 150ft attack line off. I looked nick in the eyes gave him a quick nod and he nodded back now it was time for fun. I felt the 175psi of water start to fill the hose line and smiled. The heat from the 1k plus degree fire hit me hard trying to find a way into my perfectly donned bunker gear. We attacked the 50ft flames like NFL linebackers. A explosion knocked Nick and I back about 5 or 6 feet. A split second after the explosion I felt the protective cover of the engine companies deck gun putting out 800 gallons per minute enclosing us in a cocoon "Thank you Ricky !" Nick dug in and headed into the fire more determined than before. Rhino pushed his way up to us with the second attack line and we were a invincible team now. We fought through the smoke and flames from the lead acid batteries, miscellaneous chemicals, and the wooden structure that was now on the ground for over thirty minutes. That thirty minutes felt like a lifetime. The heat had stolen every last ounce of energy from us. The fire was now out and back up crews had arrived from the other side of the base. We turned our hoses over to the fresh crews and headed back to the engine. When I pulled my mask off the smell of lead acid and charred wood hung in the air. We sat on the tail board of the engine drinking water like it was our last drink. The medics were taking our vital signs while other firefighters pealed off our gear. We did not say a word, we just looked at each other and nodded. We had won today's battle.
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