January 20 – “Fire … behind-the-scenes”

So all that stuff I said yesterday about it being such a boring day?  Never mind.  I was hard at work on my computer, minding my own business, when a fire call came in.  Flames and smoke showing.  I quickly got dressed and headed over to check on the guys tasked with putting out the blaze. 

It was out when I arrived.  They were doing the last scraping and poking to make sure no vestiges remained.  Well, that would be the rookie’s doings.  One of the brand new hires caught his first fire, so the vets directed him and encouraged him to be involved in every aspect of the operation.  In fact, the way I was sure he was a rookie?  He raced past me on his way to the engine to get a tool, then raced back up the steps to the house.  I also heard that before the call came in he was studying his rookie manual hard and practicing getting into his bunker gear.  In fact that gave him an edge when the call did come in.  He was already in his gear and at the engine.  Pretty impressive.  Of course he’ll need to remember that all “extraneous materials” need to be off the engine before it leaves the station.  But all rookies have curve balls thrown their way.

Back to the fire.  There were two dogs involved.  One was a little dachshund.  That one remained safe in a back room of the house far away from the fire, which was contained on the porch.  The other was a pit bull on one of those guide wires across the front of the house.  Fortunately he was very sweet and allowed one of the fire fighters to take him for a walk to get him out of the way.  Of course that was after he jumped the fence (still attached to the guide cable) and almost escaped from his collar.  By that time the owner of the house nor the renter had been located, so animal control was called to assist. 

Speaking of the renter, they finally managed to locate him.   He was a young man who was a student.  I talked to him for a while after he arrived.  Imagine his emotions.  Sitting in class, minding his own business, when two police officers enter the room and call out his name.  They take him into the hall, hand him a card with the fire marshal’s name on it, and ask if he has been in touch with this person yet.  The poor kid replied, I just moved to Galveston to go to school.  I don’t know anybody yet.  What is going on?  Am I under arrest?”  Finally the police officers said, “Your house is on fire.”  You think he would have led with that.  His first concern upon arriving on scene was the safety of the dogs.  Oh, and his pet snake.  Big snake.  All were fine. 

By this time the fire fighters had cleaned up and were pulling out, engine by engine.  The rental management company arrived and had the owner on the phone, getting insurance information.  The gas company came by to check their meters.  The fire marshals were finishing up their rounds.  I was particularly impressed at one point when they found out a neighbor had been hosing down the fire before the engines arrived.  One of the marshals went to the door to say “Thank you.”  Now that’s pretty classy.  Nice job, GFD, from start to finish, from rookie to seasoned veteran. 

2 Peter 3:11-12 says, “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”

Father, thank you for protecting the fire fighters on that and every call.  Walk with the owner and especially that young renter as they deal with repairs and insurance companies.  Amen.