Page 48 of Wild Fires
“Oh shit. It's an actual fire.”
“Our arsonist?” Ryan asked.
“I don't know. Gotta go. Love ya.”
I hung up the phone and then froze. Holy shit, did I just say the L-word out loud to him like that? That couldn't be the first time I said it. What did I do?
“Gracie, get a move on it,” Clarence barked.
I jumped out of the cab of the truck and ran to grab my gear and suit up before jumping back in.
Soon we were speeding off with the siren blaring and lights flashing.
Adrenaline started to kick in. It seemed like ages since I'd felt this exhilaration. This is what I lived for.
“Think this is our guy?” Dan asked.
“Let's hope so.”
“Gracie,” the chief warned.
“What? We have a lot of unsolved cases, and I'm not sure they're going anywhere without more proof. If this is him, then just maybe it'll be the break we need.”
When we pulled up to the house it was already blazing.
“It's a hot one,” Clarence warned.
But I barely heard him as I noticed the familiar blue lights already at the scene and Vance standing there staring at the house.
A car pulled in behind us—Ryan. Our eyes met across the chaos, and I turned to point to Vance. He noticed too and nodded. While I got ready to go in with my team, he walked over to talk to Vance.
“The mayor came out to watch us tonight, so let's keep this one by the books.”
“How the hell did he get here so quickly?” Guffy asked.
I was just grateful that my mask was already on to hide my blush.
“Let’s go.”
Dan was the first one in, followed by Guffy, and then me. Big Dick brought up the end. Clarence stayed out by the truck, running the show from there, while Rodney was on truck and hoses.
Together the guys and I carried hoses in and got to work putting out the fire. We all expected the fire to have started in the kitchen, but the house had been abandoned for quite some time and it was easy to see it had started in what I assumed was the living room. It was already fully engulfed in flames and through the floor leading upstairs.
Rodney and Guffy carefully combed through the house, looking for any signs of life and finding none.
“The roof's about to cave. I think you all should get out of there. Finish sweeping for life and then abort. We're going to have to let it burn and control the spread from out here. It's too far gone.”
“Give us a few minutes to determine that in here,” Dan said.
The water kicked on and soon I was gripping my hose and concentrating it on the floor of the living room. Putting it out at the source was our best option, knowing the rain outside would help to control the spread beyond the house.
A loud crack told me the chief was right though.
“Let it go Dan. We need to get out of here.”
“Yeah, I'm calling it. Abort the mission now,” he said over the radio.
Big Dick, Dan, and I followed our path back outside to safety. When we got back to the truck, I realized my mask was malfunctioning. I took it off and gulped in some fresh air—well, as fresh as it got when you were surrounded by smoke.