Santa Wears An SCBA©

It was 10:00 pm on Christmas Eve.

Colt and Jessie had put the kids to bed and were watching the news. They wanted to be sure that Brandon and Kylee were sound asleep, before they put the Christmas presents under the tree.

Jessie was nervous about whether or not the kids would be happy with their presents, although, both had submitted a list to Santa. Colt was re-assuring her when his fire department pager went off.

As he was putting on his shoes and coat, he was telling Jessie that it probably wasn’t serious and that he shouldn’t be too long.

Colt had been on his fire department for 8 years and had risen to the rank of captain. He was certified FF II, Officer II, Instructor I and Technical Rescue Operations. He worked with a very dedicated group of volunteers who trained hard, but like most small departments, they did not see many structural fires that would “test” their skills.

But on Christmas Eve, they would be put to the test.

Colt got to the station, unlocked the door, turned on the lights and raised the bay doors. As he was getting his gear on, he heard over the radio that they had a structural fire with smoke showing. Dispatch said that the family was out of the house and that mutual aid and ambulance had already been dispatched. Colt breathed a sigh of relief!

By now, Colt had his engine crew and he was snuggled into his captain’s seat, putting on his hood and SCBA as they pulled out and headed to the scene. He grabbed the TI camera and slung the strap over his head.

On a room and contents fire, Colt liked to enter on the affected side, take out a window or two (depending on wind conditions) to vent, throw short bursts at the ceiling to cool it down a bit and go straight to the seat of the fire.

If there was already fire extension, though, he liked to enter from the unaffected side and push it back to the room of origin. Colt and his crew had practiced the tactic many times in live burn training and had confidence in its results.

Colt’s adrenaline was charged and he was anxious to see what was in store for them.

As they rounded the corner, he could see heavy smoke pushing out from the front door and fire was blowing out the window on the “A” side of the structure. He keyed his radio, told the chief what he saw and asked to go straight to the house. They would work off of tank water. Engine 2 would hook the hydrant and provide the water supply. Engine 2 would be RIT until mutual aid arrived. The chief knew that Colt wanted to go for the quick knock down and gave the “10-4”.

As Colt and his crew exited the truck, Colt could see a mother and two little girls. He knew them-hell, he knew everybody-and they were screaming “Phil is inside; Daddy’s inside”. They were frantic.

Colt’s mind was going a mile a minute. He knew that, if they went in blasting water, it might blacken it down to where finding Phil would be difficult, if not impossible. Rescue-not recovery was all that he could think of, but he also knew that he had to keep his crew safe. He had to get to the front door to get a better look.

Colt got down on his stomach and looked in the door and could see that an inversion had not yet occurred. He told his guys on the hose to go just inside the door and wait for his command to open the nozzle. Colt was going to do a primary search of the room. It would be quick, down and dirty.

Colt was scanning the right side of the room with the TI camera. NOTHING! He got to the north wall, turned left and saw a figure on the floor near the opposite wall. He radioed that he had something and to be ready with water.

As Colt crawled towards the wall, he could feel the heat through his bunkers. He got to his victim, took out the piece of rope that he kept in his pocket, looped it under the shoulders and over the arms and started dragging the limp body towards the door.

As soon as his hose team saw him, they opened the nozzle and let ‘er rip!

Colt was met at the door by paramedics and they immediately went to work on the victim. Colt felt like he was on fire! As soon as he got off of the porch, he took off his helmet, ripped his SCBA mask off, flung off his gloves, took the camera from his neck, unzipped then threw off his coat and plopped down on his BA bottle.

It was 20 degrees out, but Colt wasn’t cold. The cold air felt good! As he sat there watching the activities, a fire explorer came up and handed him a bottle of water.

Colt said, “Thanks; you’re a life-saver”.

The explorer replied, “You got steam comin’ off you”.

Colt shot down some water and splashed a little in his face. He was looking towards the truck, but felt that someone was looking at him. He turned back around and little Emily was standing there looking at him.

“Thank you for giving my daddy back to me,” she said.

And with that, she threw her arms around Colt’s neck and hung on for dear life!

Colt put his big arms around her and softly said, “You’re welcome”.

By now, Julie, the mother and her other daughter, Lisa, had come over to Colt and given him a hug and their thanks. With them was a big yellow Labrador and Colt asked, “Who’s this?”

Julie replied, “Who is what Phil went back in for. He didn’t see him come out, couldn’t stand the thought of him dying in the fire, so he went back in for him.”

“They are loading Phil into the ambulance. Do you have a ride to the hospital?” asked Colt.

“Yes; thank you. My mom and dad are driving me and the girls,” replied Julie.

Colt got up, put on his coat and helmet and helped get the hose back onto the truck. When they got back to the station, the other guys were pumped up and wanted to hang out and talk about the fire. Everyone was slapping Colt on the shoulder and high-fiving him, but all’s Colt wanted to do was to go home to Jessie and the kids.

It was 2:30 am Christmas Day when Colt drove into the driveway. Thinking that Jessie was already in bed, he tried to sneak in as he opened the door.

He looked at the Christmas tree and saw that Jessie had put the presents under it.

Damn; I like being Santa Claus, thought Colt.

From the lights of the tree, Colt could see Jessie sitting on the couch, so he walked over to her.

“How’d it go?” asked Jessie.

“Textbook,” replied Colt.

“Which textbook?” asked Jessie.

“Ummmmm…” Colt hesitated.

“Colt; I heard the whole thing on the scanner,” said Jessie.

Tears started to well up in Colt’s eyes as he said, “Jessie; I had to do it. I couldn’t…” His voice trailed off.

Jessie jumped up and put her arms around him, buried her head in his neck and they both started to cry.

“I never want anything to ever happen to you,” cried Jessie.

“I wouldn’t do that to you and the kids,” Colt said re-assuringly.

“Kids need their Santa Claus,” said Jessie.

“Right now, I probably smell like a reindeer,” Colt offered.

“Yeah; you need a shower…BAD! Exclaimed Jessie.

Post Script

Julie, Emily and Lisa would spend Christmas at the hospital, where doctors said that Phil would make a complete recovery from his burns and smoke inhalation.

Family, neighbors and friends, many of them firefighters and their families, were already taking food and presents to the hospital. It was going to be a joyous Christmas after all!

From my family to your’s: Please enjoy a safe and joyous holiday season and take a moment to remember our brothers/sisters, soldiers and the less fortunate.

Happy Holidays

Santa Wears An SCBA© is pure fiction. Any similarities to the people, places or situations portrayed are purely coincidental. Santa Wears An SCBA is the intellectual property of Art Goodrich a.k.a. xchief22 and cannot be re-printed in any form without expressed permission.