Face it together

A bad call

It was 10am and the firefighters of the firehouse 51 had received their first call: a building on fire in the neighboring suburb of Chicago. Everybody hurried to put on their gear, get in their trucks and arrived on scene as soon as possible. Every call, just a second could change everything, and everybody knew that. This was one of the first rules they learned at the firefighter Academy. Once on their trucks, they sped to the address given by main. Trucks at full speed, sirens wailing in the streets of Chicago, truck 81 and battalion 25 were first, as usual. They were followed by squad 3, then ambulance 61. The engine guys were a little further behind: coming from the other side of the firehouse, they had to take another way to arrive on scene. Inside the fire truck, lieutenant Casey began to give his orders, knowing perfectly that the engine guys were a few minutes out.

"Mouch, Borelli, stay outside to place our own hoses the time for engine 51 to come. Dawson, Otis, stay together to vent the roof, and you'll help the engine guys when they'll arrive. I'll be with Hermann. If squad needs help, stay together to help us".

"Copy".

Inside the squad truck, it was the same speech.

"Cruz, Tony, stay together to do the search and rescue. I'll stay with Capp".

"On it".

Severide and Casey were like twins: it seemed like they knew what the other was thinking without any gesture, without seeing each other. They just needed to know something else: what kind of building it was. Because depending of the building, squad and truck didn't coordinate in the same way. Chief Boden arrived on scene, having a faster car than the fire trucks. He got out his car and observed the structure catching fire. He gripped his radio to talk to his men and explain what was happening.

"It's a four floors building, including the main floor. It's totally on fire. Potentially sixteen apartments".

The chief turned to one of the people he saw getting out of the building, running and coughing. He grabbed his arm to hold him and put him out of any danger.

"How many are still inside?"

"I don't know", the man said coughing. "Lot of people are working today, but there's no school".

The expression on Boden's face changed suddenly. This call was one of those that all firefighters feared: when children are still inside a burning structure. Because their little lungs couldn't deal with the smoke very well, this made them die even faster. The sirens of fire trucks came to his ears, finally signaling their arrival. Once out of them, Boden sped on them.

"We don't know how many victims are still inside but there should have children, so hurry".

Hermann and Casey were the first to nod, knowing that time was running out. And being parents or almost having been, it tore their heart to know that children were in danger. Squad 3 came and Boden explained again what he told Casey and his men. Severide turned to the truck lieutenant.

"We do it as usual?"

Casye nodded.

"Yeah. Join on first floor".

"Alright".

Even it was nearly six months he worked at the firehouse 51 and under Casey's commands, Borelli was still amazed at how the two lieutenants were working together when they were called on structure fires. They just had to know what kind of building they were going to enter, and without consulting each other, they had one strategy in place. Curious and lost, he turned to Mouch for some explanations.

"As usual? What does that mean Mouch?"

Grabbing one of the hoses, Mouch smiled and laughed at the same time.