In Flames // 9-1-1 Fox (seasons 1-4)

five

"Engine, ladder, RA 118. Plane crash all hands on deck," dispatch announced. Mariana shot up from her seat and she glanced at Hen with wide eyes.

"Plane crash?"

The two women rushed to the pole and quickly slid down. Mariana hopped into the driver's seat of the ambulance as Hen joined her in the passenger seat. They would need to be prepared for the worst.

But they never expected this.

Mariana and Hen joined Bobby and Buck as they stared towards the flaming hunk of metal in the ocean.

"You guys ever seen something like this?" Buck asked. No one dared to answer.

They hiked their packs up their backs and took off running towards the beach. The Coast Guard was working with lifeguards to lower another boat and Bobby gestured for the team to help.

"Captain Nash. Who's got incident command?" he yelled over the din of the helicopter.

"You do now, Captain. It looks like the plane split in two on impact."

"Alright, I'm gonna need you two to be my point men on the beach. Hen, I need you to check on the Coast Guard chopper. Buck, I need you to check with the dive team. Mari, your main job is injuries. Check in with the main tents and then I need you on the beach and transporting people to triage and treat."

"Yes sir," Mariana shouted as she began to jog towards the tents. Coast Guard officers were scrambling around and trying to prep tarps and triage the few victims they had pulled out already. One man looked up as Mariana approached.

"Here to help?"

"Yeah. Mariana Ramirez, paramedic with the 118 and ER nurse down at County Gen. I'm here to help transport victims from the plane but I need to know what we're working with here."

"Dan Evans, Coast Guard. Nice to see someone who knows what they're doing. Ever seen something like this?"

"I've seen a few earthquakes, a train crash once, but never a plane crash. Nothing this large. How's it looking?"

"Based on what we've seen so far, decent. That label depends on how many people we pull out of the water. Are you ready to take command?"

Mariana's mouth went dry as she realized he was addressing her. As in, she would be in charge. She was just supposed to be relief until more paramedics came on scene. Glancing around, she realized that she was not only the first paramedic but also probably the only one with heavy trauma experience thanks to the ER. They needed her.

"Yes. Yes, I am."

The brunette tightened her ponytail and dropped her bag to the ground. She waved her hand above her head and let out a sharp whistle to bring attention to herself.

"My name's Mariana Ramirez and I'm taking command of triage command. New responders need to report to me because I need four teams. One for retrieval, one for triage, one to treat, and one for travel and total. Has anyone worked on something like this before?"

Two, maybe three hands went up. Better than none.

"Come see me after this. Retrieval needs to be ready at the beach to unload victims from the boats and grab people from the water. Triage takes over from retrieval and determines who goes where. Treat is obvious. Majority of EMTs will be with me at treat. We need two rapid triage centers where we can handle time sensitive emergencies. Transport needs to be on standby and ready to move patients to RAs and roll out as fast as possible. Cots are top priority and then red tarps, then yellow, then green.

"Listen, I know that things will get hard out here. You stay focused, you complete the tasks at hand, then you have the time to grieve. These people need us to be at our best. We owe the living and the dead the respect they deserve. If you feel like you need to tap out, find someone to take your place and take a breather. I'll speak to all of your captains and COs later. Tell them to sign you up for therapy. Group up and help set up the tarps while I assign leaders to each team."