“Dispatch, this is Captain Kemp of 118. We have arrived on the scene.”
“Captain Kemp, this is dispatch. Please report to the incident commander, Captain Bishop of 19, for instructions.”
“Copy that, dispatch.” Captain Kemp gathered her station and walked over to the makeshift command center.
“Captain Bishop, I was told you were IC? Where do you need us?”
“Captain Kemp, thank God. This is bigger than we have anticipated. Chief is 20 minutes out but until then I’m running point. Could you spare half of your guys to help 19 with evac? The other half to help 132 with the fire on the south side of the building? Then I need your paramedics to help my paramedics set up triage.”
“Copy that. Alright, guys, Han, SG, and Salvius help with the fire. Dora and Villaumbrosia help with evac. Masters and Cam set up triage with 19.”
“Got it, Cap.” They collectively said before running to grab the correct gear.
“Kemp!”
“Bishop, I was just heading to help with evac. Do you need anything?”
“Yes, I need you to stay with me until the chief gets here.” Bishop’s voice falters a little.
Suzanne led Bishop to the back of a truck. “Bishop, are you okay?”
“Yes. It’s just my first big fire since I was promoted and I would appreciate having your expertise.”
“Okay, but you run this show. I’m here as a sounding board.”
“Cap…”
“I’m not your captain anymore, Bishop. I’ve seen you grow into this.” Suzanne pointed at the badge that says Captain Bishop, “You got this, Maya.”
“Okay, let’s do this.”
“Captain Bishop, station 133 has just arrived.”
“You got this, cap.” Suzanne said to Maya. “Let me inform my team that I’m staying for now.”
Maya nodded and then she rattled off orders for 133.
“118, Captain Kemp here, I’m staying at command. Han help Dora and Lilith with evac.” Suzanne radioed her team.
“Copy that, cap. Dora and Lilith, coming your way.” Beatrice radioed back.
Beatrice used the elevator up to the 4th floor where Dora and Lilith were. The doors opened and she saw her team.
“Nice of you to join us, Bea.” Dora joked.
“Yeah yeah.”
“Bea, isn’t this your friend’s office building?” Lilith asked, “LAFD! We are evacuating everyone!”
“Yeah, Ava, right?” Dora added.
“LAFD, ma’am please follow the firefighters and evacuate the building.” Beatrice said to a woman who got out of their office. “Yeah, this isn’t her floor though. And I think she’s supposed to be off today.”
“That’s some luck.” Lilith said, “I’m glad she’s safe.”
“Me too.” Beatrice said, “Alright, let’s split up and go into these offices.”
“LAFD!” They all shout before entering the rooms.
“Han, more firefighters are here, go help the fire on the south side.”
“Got it, cap.” Bea said into her radio, “Alright, see you guys.”
Bea went down the stairs to meet back up with the guys who were putting out the fire. As she was running across, she noticed that it had quickly spread.
“This is Han on the Southwest corridor, please be advised that the fire has spread.”
“Copy, 118 and 19, set up at the Southwest corridor. Put out that fire.”
“Copy that IC.”
Beatrice went outside to meet the crew and their truck is now on this side, connected to water already.
“Alright, I got the hose.” Michael yelled.
“I’ll help you!” SG yelled back.
“Thanks, Mary.”
“Southwest corridor, please be advised that that side has not been cleared. I repeat, there still might be people inside.”
“This is Han, I’m going in.” Three other people said the same thing on the radio. They all looked at each other, nodded, and ran towards the burning building.
The fire quickly spread, Bea believes that this is because this side has the record room where all their paperwork is stored.
“LAFD! Help is coming!” they all shouted.
“I got one!” A guy from 19 yelled. “Keep searching, the person said there were 4 people in total.”
“LAFD!”
“I got two. Coming out now.” Danvers said.
“Last one has been found.” Beatrice said to her team.
“Captain Bishop, this is Danvers from 19, the last worker has been found and we are all heading out. Heading to triage.”
“Copy, Danvers. Southwest team, get out and contain the fire.” Captain Bishop said.
“Copy.” Bea took one last look when she realized that one of the rooms had some canisters. “Oh shit.”
“Sorry, we’re gonna have to run.” She said to the person she just rescued before they ran.
“EVERYONE RUN OUT! THIS ROOM IS GONNA…” but before Bea could say anything else, a loud explosion was heard. On her part, she put herself between the explosion and the person— to protect her.
…
On the other side of the building, where the triage was set up, someone was listening to one of the firefighters’ radio.
“Captain Bishop, this is Danvers from 19, the last worker has been found and we are all heading out. Heading to triage.”
“Copy, Danvers. Southwest team, get out and contain the fire.” The person heard it on the radio. But then they heard an explosion.
“Southwest corridor team, report.”
“Salvius reporting.”
“Mary Masters reporting.” Shannon sighed, relief that her wife was okay.
“Danvers reporting.”
They heard two more people reporting.
“Han?” Her relief was short-lived when she heard her little sister’s last name. She clutched her cross pendant and silently prayed for her safety.
“Han, come in.” The radio said, the person’s eyes that Shannon is treating became wide.
“No, please. Please come in.” Masters heard their patient say.
“Sorry, did you need anything?”
“No. I’m okay.” The person hesitated.
“Ma’am, it’s best if we know the entire picture so we know if we need to send you to the hospital.”
“It’s not me.” The person paused, “Did your captain say Han? Beatrice?”
Shannon looked at the patient, “Do you know her?”
The person just nodded.
“Beatrice. Check-in.”
“Sorry, cap. I’m here. All civilians are also out.” the voice said in between puffs of breath.
Suddenly the patient that Shannon was treating got up and ran out of the triage area.
“Ma’am! You can’t go there!” Shannon ran but the girl was fast. “Damn, she’s fast.”
“Captain, a rogue civilian ran out of triage. I have reason to believe they’re headed to the Southwest corridor. Be advised that she is a fast runner.”
“Copy. Do you have a description?”
“Brown hair, about 5’2”-5’3”, wearing black trousers and maroon polo.”
“Got it. I have people there. Any reason she ran out?”
“She heard Han’s name.”
“Han, did you hear that?”
“Copy…” But before Beatrice could say anything else, she was tackled with a hug by a girl. She looked down and realized who it was.
“Ava, what are you doing here? I thought you were off?”
Ava didn’t answer, instead tears just ran down her cheeks.
“Hey, hey, I’m okay. Everyone’s okay.” Bea hugged Ava back and rubbed her back. “Shh. Come on, let’s get up, it’s not yet safe to be here.”
Ava stood up first, seeing as she was on top of Beatrice, and then Bea followed immediately. She was headed to return Ava to the triage station when she was stopped.
“Han.” Kemp said.
“Cap?”
“Go get yourself checked out.”
“I don’t need it, Cap. I can go out again now.”
“No.” Ava interjected, “You just got blown up, you need to be checked out.”
“If you don’t want to listen to me, I’m sure you’ll want to listen to your friend there.” Suzanne joked. “And while you’re out there, have your friend checked out too.”
“Fine.” Beatrice huffed, then smiled back to her captain before heading out, with her hand on Ava’s waist.
They got to the triage and Shannon immediately hugged Beatrice while Cam took Ava to get checked out again.
“Follow the light,” Shannon said as she waved her light in front of Bea. “Okay, good. Any pain?”
“No, just some bruises that’s going to form. The turnout and the mask protected me from cuts.”
“Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it. Remove your coat.” Bea heard Ava giggling, surely enjoying the fact that Shannon was being hard on her.
“Really, Shannon?”
“Yes, now the sooner you do this, the sooner you can go back out.”
“Ugh, fine.” Bea removed her turnout, “There, happy?”
“Yes, very.” Shannon looked throughout and was satisfied that Bea was not lying.
“Starting to think you just wanted to look at me.” Bea joked.
“First of all, eww. Second of all, you’re cleared. Feel free to report back to Cap.”
“What did I tell you?” Bea said, but Ava hit her.
“Let her do her job, Bea.”
“I don’t believe, we’ve officially met. It seems like Bea is keeping you a secret.”
“No, I am not!” Bea said to Ava and not Shannon.
“Ava.” She extended her hand to Shannon.
“Shannon. I would shake your hand but my hand is kind of gross right now. It’s nice to meet you, finally.”
“This one couldn’t stop talking about you, by the way.” Cam added.
“Ugh guys, please.” Bea stood up and grabbed her gear, “Okay, bye. I’m going back.”
“Wait.” Ava stood up and walked to where Bea was.
“Yeah?” A hand now softly caressing her cheek.
“Next time run faster.” Ava said softly, her big brown eyes directly staring into Bea’s
“I will, but we can’t all be an Olympic track star, you know.” Bea winked at Ava before running back out.