Treading Water–Part 5
By Nancy F. Thysell (the Nifty Lady)
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Captain Robert Landry of Station 51's B-shift made a new assessment of the search and rescue effort going on in the rubble of the imploded structure. He was in command since they had been the first unit on the scene. Now twenty minutes had passed and they still hadn’t reached any of the downed firefighters. At least five men were missing plus the possibility of civilians. The crews were working feverishly to move the debris to reach the men. He sighed heavily. Precious minutes were ticking away. They had to reach those men quickly but carefully. He was working side by side with John Mason, the captain from 36. They turned as Chief McConnikee’s car pulled up to the scene. A sense of relief came over Landry as he knew he would relinquish command to his superior.
"What do we have Bob?" the chief asked as he approached the two captains.
Landry explained the situation and appraised the chief of the current status as the chief took in the scene. They were discussing strategies when a shout came from one of the rescue groups. Both men turned in unison and watched as the rescue workers pulled the remnants off the two firefighters from Station 36. Many hands reached in and helped remove the men to the triage area that Dr. Mike Morton had established. Shortly afterward they located the third man, and Jim Davis was removed from an area near the collapsed stairwell.
The paramedics from Station 16 were among the rescuers that brought the injured men out to the triage area. There in turn, they took vitals and responded to Dr. Morton’s orders to stabilize the injured firefighters. All three men were in critical condition and the medical personnel worked at fever pitch to keep the life lines open. McConnikee ordered another squad to the incident as the paramedics from 16s rushed the wounded to the hospital. Dr. Morton and Nurse Susie Freemont were able to finally take a breather. They watched the firefighters continue to search through the rubble. It had been an hour since the collapse. Mike watched the efforts of the men as they searched and wondered if there was any chance that anyone could still be alive. They could only hope and pray. The sun was starting to set. If it took much longer, the chief would have to call in the light trucks and fresh crews would have to replace the ones that now worked so tirelessly.
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
Chris stood by helplessly watching as the three firemen were rushed into the ER. She had seen one paramedic rush in with the first victim but he was gone before she found out anything. She wanted to ask someone about Johnny but they were all so involved that she didn’t dare interrupt. She didn’t recognize any of the names or faces she saw as they rushed through the corridor. Soon they had been whisked away into treatment rooms and the doctors and nurses closed those doors behind them. Her leg was aching, and she needed to sit down. Cautiously she made her way down the hall and as she reached the waiting room she noticed the payphones. On impulse she crossed to them and dialed the number for the station. There was no answer. That lacked comfort. Then fishing in her purse, she pulled out her address book and found Roy’s number.
"Hello? Roy? It’s Chris...No, I’m at Rampart...No, I haven’t talked to him. Is there anything on the news about a fire or something?" she asked cautiously.
"Why Chris? What’s up?" Roy asked, now concerned himself.
"Something’s going on and I have a terrible feeling that something has happened to Johnny," Chris confided. "Roy, they’ve already brought in three firemen and they look like they’re in bad shape."
"But you don’t know who they are, do you?"
"No, I don’t and everyone’s so busy, I haven’t been able to ask about Johnny. Can you do anything?" she asked hopefully.
"I’m not sure Chris. Listen, hang tight there. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s fine. It may just be a big fire and they’re keeping him busy," Roy tried to alleviate her fears and his own.
"Okay, I’ll be waiting for you. Thanks Roy," Chris said and hung up the phone. She felt a little better knowing that Roy was on his way. She prayed fervently that Johnny was all right as she sat on the hard plastic chair and waited.
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
It was dark–very dark and wet. Johnny shivered against the chill of the water that had seeped through his turnout gear. At least he knew he was still alive. His leg had gone from the feeling of pins and needles to just simply numb. He wondered how long it had been since they had fallen through the floor. He couldn’t move his arm to a place where he could look at his wrist. It was probably even too dark to read the numbers on the face anyway. He wished he could hear Rob at least breath. Then maybe he wouldn’t feel so alone. Water continued to drip on his helmet. His muscles screamed to be stretched and moved but he was powerless to accommodate them. He sighed heavily and coughed against the mustiness of the air.
He could hear the sounds of the rescue workers above him. He knew that they would find them, eventually. Sometimes they sounded really close and at other times the sounds were so muted that he wasn’t even sure he really heard anything. Suddenly it was quiet. Eerily quiet. Surely they wouldn’t have stopped? What the hell was happening?
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
McConnikee had ordered everyone off the site so that the light truck could set up. And these men all needed a well-deserved break. Fresh crews would be arriving in moments to relieve the search teams in a few minutes. It had been two hours now since the collapse and the work was going excruciatingly slow. The exhausted men now rested around the canteen that had been set up. Dan Evans made his way over to the group after having made his report to the chief and his captain and waited impatiently for the go ahead to resume the search. But the chief had said he wanted to address the men first, so Dan waited. McConnikee approached the resting firemen.
"Men," he began solemnly, "I know you’re all tired and that you’ve worked very hard here. We don’t know how long this rescue is going to take. Reinforcements will be arriving momentarily. I promise you that we won’t quit until every man is recovered."
He didn’t have to say "dead or alive." These men knew that and they understood that. They waited for their chief to continue.
"I’ve been informed that Jim Davis from 51 and George Andrews from 36 are in surgery and the doctors are hopeful for their recovery. I regret to inform you that Louis Stillman from 36 did not make it. He died of his injuries."
There were murmurs of disbelief over the loss. Then silence as each man dealt with his own grief. More than anyone, these men understood the dangers of their profession. Their own mortality faced them each time they fought a fire. And the death of one their own only brought that reality closer to home.
The sirens of the additional units arriving broke the somber silence surrounding the rescue scene. The lights came to life under the hum of the generators and illuminated the rubble giving the site a surreal-like quality. The fresh crews of firefighters donned their gear and entered the staging area and took up the search. Dan quickly joined them in the search. His partner was still missing and he had to find him.
On the fringes of the scene, the number of spectators grew with the media’s reporting of the tragic event. The police had their hands full keeping both the crowds and the news people at bay. Captain Landry looked at the developing drama and thought it resembled a three-ring circus. He shook his head. He never could understand why the public felt they had to be on hand when a tragedy unfolded. His heart was heavy with grief and he had to stay focused on the rescue. The chief was ready to stand Stations 51 and 36 down but both captains refused to leave until all the men were accounted for.
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Roy had rushed through the traffic as fast as he dared. By the time he reached the hospital, he had gotten a fair amount of information off the radio about the fire and resulting building collapse. His apprehension grew with the reporter’s descriptions of the devastation of the incident. At the hospital, the local media was taking over the parking lot with their equipment. He could see film crews setting up for on-the-scene reports. This was one time he was grateful to be out of uniform as he reached the ER. The room was overflowing with people. As he made his way through the throng, he estimated that the majority of the people had no business being there. He found Chris and wordlessly took her arm and guided her down the hall. Chris was feeling overwhelmed by the crowd so she followed him without question. In a moment they had reached the doctor’s lounge and Roy led her into the room. Roy wasn’t really surprised to find the room crowded as well since the occupants of this room were off-duty fire personnel and the wives and families of the injured. Because of the media circus, they hadn’t been allowed to move upstairs to the surgical waiting room yet.
Roy shook hands with a couple of the men as they entered. He steered Chris over to the sofa where an off-duty fireman rose to vacate a place for her to sit. Chris sat next to a distraught young woman who appeared to be praying. Roy turned to some of the men and they conversed in low whispers. He quickly learned about the death of Stillman and the condition of Davis and Andrews. Then he found out who the missing men were. He felt his own stomach tightened when he heard that Johnny was one of those men. He turned and looked at Chris. She didn’t know yet. She looked like a scared rabbit. He hated to be the one to tell her as he crossed back to her side.
"Chris?" he whispered kindly. She rose to her feet unsteadily.
"What is it Roy?" Chris asked apprehensively. She steadied herself on his arm.
"Johnny’s one of the men they’re still looking for," he explained gently. Suddenly all the fear she had been suppressing rose up and gripped her.
"No!" she hissed in disbelief. She looked into Roy’s eyes and knew that it was true. Then suddenly everything seemed to waver and she felt her vision narrow. Roy caught her in his arms as she fainted.
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
Johnny opened his eyes with a start. He wasn’t sure why. Had he been asleep? He could hear the drone of machinery working above his head. His body screamed to move but he had no place to go. He thought he heard a movement to his left.
"Rob?" he called hoarsely. He heard another muffled sound and then a cough.
"Gage?" came a weak response.
"Yeah. Are you okay?"
"Not sure. I can’t really feel anything. I feel like this whole building is on top of me. What happened to our victim?" Rob asked through wheezing breaths.
"His arm is under me. I can’t find a pulse," Johnny informed him.
"You think they’ll find us in time?" Rob asked quietly. Johnny knew what he was thinking. They were both soaked from the water that had seeped down from putting out the fire. Chances were they were both suffering from hypothermia. Add that to whatever injuries they had sustained, time was their greatest enemy.
"They’d better," Johnny responded. "I’m getting married. I don’t think my fiancee would take it too kindly if they didn’t." He heard Rob try to laugh.
"Only you, Gage."
"What?"
"Only you would make it personal."
Johnny thought he could hear a smile in Rob’s voice. He chuckled.
"We just have to hang in here until they find us," he told Rob confidently.
"Yeah. I guess," Rob conceded before a coughing fit took hold. Then a sound of movement above them screeched loudly in their ears.
"Hey! We’re down here!" Johnny yelled as loud as he could muster when the sound subsided.
A disembodied voice yelled back. "Hang on! We’re almost through! Chief! We’ve found them!" Then the voices became muffled as the recovery work resumed. Johnny smiled a little. Hopefully it wouldn’t be long now.
Topside a cheer erupted when the word spread that the missing men had been found and that they were alive. With renewed energies, the firefighters continued the task at hand.
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
Chris responded with a choking gasp to the smelling salts that Roy waved under her nose.
"Oh! What happened?" she asked in confusion. She was lying on an exam table. She peered around the room, unsure of where she was. She looked up at Roy. "Where are we?"
Roy smiled down at her. When she had fainted, Roy carried her out into the corridor. Dixie had seen him come out of the lounge with Chris in his arms and directed him to one of the empty treatment rooms. Dixie stood nearby as Roy revived Chris with the smelling salts.
"You fainted. We’re just down the hall from the lounge," Roy informed her. "How are you feeling?"
Chris looked over at Dixie who smiled at her. "A little stupid. I don’t think I’ve ever fainted before."
"Well, we want you to just lay here a bit, okay?" Dixie said. The intercom paged Dixie to the base station and she quickly departed. Roy held Chris’ hand gently.
"When did you eat last?" he inquired. Chris shook her head.
"Uh, let’s see...I had an apple this morning, I think. Then I skipped lunch because of my appointment here this afternoon," Chris admitted. She saw Roy frown.
"Well, that probably explains why you fainted more than anything," he determined. "After you rest a bit we’ll go down to the cafeteria and get you some dinner."
"What about Johnny?" Chris suddenly remembered as fear gripped her again.
"They’ll let us know as soon as they find him."
Chris felt tears welling in her eyes. "Oh, Roy. What if..."
"Chris. Try not to worry. There’s nothing we can do until he’s found. You’ve just got to stay positive. You understand?" Roy directed.
"I’m trying, Roy. I’m really trying." Tears made riverlets down the side of her face. Roy got some tissue and handed them to her to wipe her eyes.
"I know Chris. I’m worried about him too."
The door opened and Dixie entered.
"They’ve found them and they’re alive," she announced. Relief washed over both Roy and Chris. "They haven’t extricated them yet so we don’t know the extent of their injuries but I thought you’d want to know."
"Thanks Dixie," they answered in unison. Dixie nodded with understanding and then ducked back out the door.
"Come on, young lady," Roy ordered. "Let’s get you fed before that partner of mine gets in here and eats everything in sight."
"Okay," Chris responded feeling better than she had in hours. They made their way down the corridor, past the crush of news media personnel, to the cafeteria, grateful that for the moment they had their anonymity.
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
When the rescuers finally broke through the rubble it was a bizarre sight. Johnny was face down on the right of the 300 pound man. The man’s arm was beneath Johnny’s upper chest. But the bulk of his body rested across Johnny’s left hip and thigh, like a gigantic cushion, between Gage and a fallen cross beam, effectively pinning Johnny to the floor. On the man’s left was Rob. The paramedic lay on his right side, squeezed into a small pocket created by the beam across the dead man.
A stokes was lowered as Dan Evans knelt by his partner to check his vitals and assess his injuries. Many hands helped to extricate him expertly from the pocket and gently place him in the stokes. As much as Dan wanted to follow his partner up, he knew he had to take care of Gage first. He moved over where a couple of other firefighters were trying to determine how to best remove the beam. Dan squeezed himself into a spot near Johnny’s head.
"Hey, Johnny! How ya do’n?" he asked lightly. Johnny groaned at his nonchalance. He knew better. From his position, he couldn’t see what the rescuers had to deal with.
"Just get me outta here, Dan," he retorted.
"We’re working on. You hurt anywhere?"
"Can’t really tell. I’m freezing and I can’t feel my left leg anymore," he answered honestly as his teeth began to chatter.
"Well, you’ve got a lot of weight and pressure on it. Hopefully we’ll have you out of here in a couple of minutes. Just hang on a little longer," Dan encouraged him.
"I’m not going anywhere ‘til you tell me," Johnny responded. He felt his body shudder with a chill. He found himself longing for a hot shower and Chris’ arms wrapped around him. Chris! She must be worried sick by now! Johnny closed his eyes and sighed and wondered if Chris would be able to withstand the stress of being a fireman’s wife at times like these.
Suddenly, Johnny felt the weight lifted off his body and felt the tingling of his leg as the circulation flooded into it. It was actually painful and Johnny gritted his teeth. Expert hands lifted and rolled him into a stokes. He felt someone strap him down. Dan flicked his penlight to check his pupils and Johnny grimaced. Then he left himself rising through the charred remains into the glaring work lamps. More hands and jostling as he was rushed to the triage area. He remembered seeing Dr. Morton and wondering how they had gotten to Rampart so quickly. His teeth were chattering uncontrollably. He felt so cold. What happened next became just a jumble to him. Someone removed his turnout. Someone else took his BP. Blankets were wrapped around him. He could hear people talking to him but it wasn’t making any sense. But he felt safe and his eyelids were too heavy to keep open and he slid into oblivion.
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Johnny had no memory of the trip to Rampart. When he awoke, he found himself in a treatment room. Dr. Brackett was talking to someone just out of Johnny’s peripheral vision. There was an IV in his arm and despite several blankets covering him, he still felt cold.
"D-d-d-doc?" he chattered weakly. Dr. Brackett turned and smiled at him.
"Well, hello. I see you decided to wake up. How are you feeling?" Kel asked as he crossed to the table.
"I’m-m-m-m-m c-c-c-c-old," Johnny shivered. He wanted to stretch but any movement seemed painful to him. The nurse brought over another blanket and wrapped it around him.
"I’m not surprised," Doctor Brackett agreed. Johnny had been extremely lucky. No broken bones but a lot of contusions. Hypothermia and exposure were his most serious symptoms. The body of their victim had effectively prevented the beam from crushing down on both Johnny and Rob. "We’re going to keep you overnight for observation and get you warmed back up. And to make sure you don’t develop any pneumonia. All things considered, you should be able to go home in the morning."
"Thanks d-d-doc. Uh, d-d-did anyone g-g-get a-a-a ho-old of C-c-c-chris?"
"She’s been here all afternoon. She and Roy are waiting to see you. Are you up to some company?"
Johnny grinned. "You’d b-b-better b-b-believe i-i-i-t!""
Dr. Brackett nodded to the nurse and she stepped into the hall and returned with Chris and Roy a few moments later. Chris rushed to Johnny’s side, relief evident in her face as she gazed into Johnny’s eyes.
"Johnny?" He grinned at her.
"Hey sweetie! Am I-I-I g-g-g-lad t-to s-s-s-ee yo-yo-you!" he said as his teeth chattered. Chris leaned in and kissed him. She giggled as his chattering teeth made his lips vibrate under hers. Johnny had to laugh as well.
Roy came to the opposite side of the exam table.
"Hey partner," he said with a relieved smile. "You had us worried for a time there."
"Sorry a-a-b-bout th-th-that," Johnny apologized.
"Don’t talk now. Wait ‘til you’re warmed up again," Roy admonished. Johnny nodded. Roy noted that his partner’s skin didn’t look as blue as it had went they had rushed him through the corridor to the treatment room. He was also grateful that at the time Chris had been in the doctor’s lounge and not waiting in the hall.
"Look, we’ll see you once they have you settled in a room, okay?" Roy went on. Johnny gave him a look that basically said "don’t go." Roy tilted his head at Chris and Johnny turned and looked at her. Now he could see the exhaustion in her face and understood what Roy was trying to convey.
"O-o-o-kay," he finally agreed. Roy came around the table and gently guided Chris away. She didn’t want to leave but she beyond resisting. She leaned heavily on Roy’s arm as he led her from the room.
"He’s okay Chris. You can relax now," Roy comforted her. She nodded in agreement and allowed Roy to take her back to the lounge. Once she was settled, Roy left her to find out what room Johnny would be in for the night so he could call JoAnne and bring her up to speed on Johnny’s condition. He paused in front of the payphones and sighed. He shook his head in disbelief. Only Johnny could get himself into such predicaments and come out of them practically unscathed. He dropped the dime and dialed home. It was always such a comfort to him to know that JoAnne was there for him. Now he realized, Johnny would have someone like that too, in Chris.
* * * * * * * * E! * * * * * * * * *
Later, Chris made her way to Johnny’s room in a borrowed wheelchair that Roy had purloined someplace. Her leg felt like lead and she was more tired than she was willing to admit. She pushed the door with her hand and held it open as she wheeled herself into the room. It was a semi-private room. Rob Joyner was asleep in the bed nearest the door. His leg had broken in the fall and had suffered a concussion. He would probably be in the hospital number of days. She rolled past his bed and around Johnny’s and stopped beside the head of the bed. He was asleep with his left arm flung over his head and snoring softly. Chris smiled. He looked like a little boy. Thank goodness he looked so much better than he had in the ER. Of course, he hadn’t been cleaned up then. The hours of lying in the soot and water of the building’s demise had given him a haggard look. But now against the starch white of the hospital linen, he looked much better. Carefully she picked up his hand and held it in hers. She studied the cuts on his knuckles and fingers. She traced them gently with her finger before bringing his hand to her lips. She kissed each abrasion lovingly and then held his hand to her cheek. A single tear escaped her eye and ran down her cheek to his finger.
"Oh, Johnny. I do love you. I love you so much. I was so scared today. I was scared for you and for me. For us, really...," Chris whispered. She looked up at Johnny’s peaceful face. "Is this why I’m treading water?"
She watched him breath, in and out. She hoped he was having pleasant dreams. She laid his hand back on the bed and rested her cheek on top of it. Gradually, her own breathing slowed and she drifted off to sleep.
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END OF PART 5--CONTINUED IN PART 6
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