The Nature of the Emergency (Evan 'Buck' Buckley X OC)

Alone, together

It has been ten minutes since then and for obvious reasons we are still on the road. Dispatch has ordered us to patrol our service area. They are saying there is a risk of a landslide. Here was me thinking it couldn't get worse. Because of that the air in the ambulance is a bit stiff. I guess we are just waiting for the landslide.

"Hey Cap, have we got any news on the impending landslide?" I radio in.

"Not yet. How are you two holding?" Bobby turns the tables on us.

"No offence Cap but if I look at the backside of the truck for any longer I am going to go crazy," Howie replies.

"I think it's too late for that," I chime in. It gets me a death glare from Howie. I can only imagine the other's reactions. To be honest, Howie is not the only one going crazy. In my case, it is because I'm missing the closeness that Buck and I have if we are back at the firehouse. I would go as far as saying I miss Buck. Don't worry I don't. Before the others respond we are called to the epicentre of the landslide. After ten minutes of fighting against the traffic, we made it to the safe zone. The command tent is in utter chaos. Our crew is the second on-ground crew to arrive. The incident commander pulls Bobby and I aside. She is not happy. There is a part of me that is glad that a battalion chief is the incident commander. That means we can't do anything stupid.

"The water from the dam caused more damage on top of the flooding and mudslides. It quickly eroded the bottom of the hill-,"

"Which brought the whole hill down," Bobby completes her sentence. He doesn't seem surprised.

"Yes. Most of the damage is concentrated east of the dam. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of what we are dealing with," The incident commander finished her briefing.

"How many casualties have we got?" I ask the obvious question. I want to know in advance if we are going to be swamped.

"Two tagged so far however we are expecting more. Luckily for us, the LAPD were evacuating the area. Unfortunately, they were still evacuating when the hill came down," She confirms. I glance at Bobby. It means there is a small chance that Athena could be on the field.

"Have any of the officers checked in," I can tell that Bobby is trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"Not yet but we are still within the golden hour. After that it will turn into a recovery mission," She replies. At least we have hope. Before we can say anything else Eddie joins us. He must have been eavesdropping.

"Well, do we have to worry about any more of the hill coming down?" Eddie asks.

"Yeah. We work fast, we work safe and we hope for the best," Bobby confirms.

"Anyway where do you want us," Bobby turns his attention to the incident commander.

"The Hollywood sign or what's left of it," The incident commander remarks as she draws our attention to the remaining letters.

"I'm guessing the letters were forced downhill when the landslide happened," I remark.

"Yes. They fell just west of here," The incident commander responds as she points to the area on the map. We are just lucky that none of the letters that fell hit any buildings.

"Before you go you should know that the helicopter spotted a group of hikers," The incident commander adds for good measure. Of course, there had to be some idiots who had to go hiking up a hill when the big one struck. To be fair they didn't know it was going to happen.

"I guess they should have brought a vowel then," Howie attempts a joke. All I can say is that he has mastered the dad jokes.

"Ok. Ella, Eddie you're with me at the sign, Howie Buck you are staying here to look for survivors," Bobby gives us his orders. I notice Howie giving Bobby the stink eye.