Report From Engine Co. 82
Chapter One
The Late, Late Show is on the television and most of us are sitting
in the kitchen when the bells start to ring. I take a last sip of
tea as I count onetwo onetwothreefourfive one onetwothreefourfive.
The kitchen chairs empty as the last number comes in. Box 2515.
Intervale Avenue and Kelly Street.
We can smell the smoke as the pumper turns down Intervale, and hands
automatically start pulling boot-tops to thighs, clipping coat-rings
closed, and putting on gloves. The pumper stops in front of a
building just before we reach Kelly Street. We're about to stretch
the hose when there is an anguished scream from inside the building.
A boy is running out of the doorway, his shirt and hair aflame.
Ladder 31 and Chief Solwin are right behind us, and one of the
ladder men goes rapidly to the boy's assistance. Willy Knipps takes
the first folds of the hose and heads into the building. Carroll and
I follow, dragging the rest of the hose with us. Royce and Boyle are
still on the sidewalk donning masks.
Lieutenant Welch is waiting for us on the second floor, crouched low
by a smoking door. The ... read full excerpt from: Report from Engine Co. 82 ebook
