Report From Engine Co. 82 - Dennis Smith [68]
The people of Fox Street have left the midday heat of their apartments, and have gathered in the middle of the street to watch the fire. Billy Valenzio is driving the pumper today, and he is hitting the air horn wildly as he tries to drive through the crowd. The mood is like a Mardi Gras. The people cheer and shout as they cross to either side of the street to make room for the pumper.
Why can’t the city tear these buildings down fast enough, I wonder, as we approach the same abandoned building we had earlier. Whoever set the place up this time didn’t feel like climbing the stairs to the fourth floor, because the fire is jumping out of all the windows on the second. The pumper stops in front of the building, and Lieutenant Welch yells to stretch the inch-and-a-half line as he runs into the building. Bill Kelsey jumps from the side with a face mask in his hand, and Vinny Royce comes from the other side to help with the stretch. Knipps has the nozzle in his hand, and is crossing over the garbage heap in the vestibule as the men of Engine 94 reach the back of our rig and start to stretch a second line. Chuck Radek, Billy-o, and the others from Ladder 31 have entered the building to ventilate, as Cagey Dulland goes into the adjoining building to cross the roof. As Valenzio moves the pumper to a hydrant, I can see Ladder 48 careening up the street. They’ll search the floors above the fire.
There is not much for me to do on the second floor, except hump the hose in. Lieutenant Welch and Knipps start to make the apartment on the left side of the hall, and the guys of Engine 94 start to push their way into the apartment on the right. Soon, Willy Knipps crawls into the hall, his chubby face covered with sweat. He wipes his running nose, and spits.
“God, it’s hot in there,” he says. “The smoke wasn’t too bad, but the heat was murder. I could’ve made it, but Kelsey had the mask, so I figured what the hell.” Yeah, what the hell, I think, and I hope the day will come when all firefighters will refuse to enter a burning abandoned building unless they have a mask on.
“Give us some more line,” Vinny Royce is yelling from the doorway, and I hump the hose forward. There is a guy next to me doing the same with Engine 94’s line. Both companies are progressing through the rooms at an even pace. I can’t help but think of Tennyson’s poem. There is fire to the left of me, and fire to the right of me.
The fires in both apartments are extinguished quickly, though. Gasoline must have been used to create so much fire, but it hasn’t been burning long enough to get through to the floors above. Chief Niebrock walks calmly through both apartments, checking each corner beam and crevice with his portable lamp. He radios what he sees to the 6th Division Deputy Chief, who is standing in the street supervising over-all operations.
The smoke has cleared, and I look around for roaches, but there are none, for the walls are now burnt black and blistering. Bill Kelsey takes his mask off, and sits smoking a cigarette in the hall. The rest of us join him, for there is nothing to do now until Ladder 31 pulls the ceilings down, and strips the window and door frames. And all the walls have to be opened to check for fire. I can watch them work from where I am squatting in the hall. Billy-o is using the pointed end of his halligan tool to release a window frame from the wall. He struggles briefly, and with a final yank the three part frame loosens and crashes down. Cagey Dulland and Horace Brewster pull the lath slats down a bay of beams until the ceiling disappears, dropping and smashing to pieces on the floor. The room is filled with plaster dust, which sticks to Cagey’s wet face, and which makes Horace’s handsome