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// Another Day, Another Bit 
// Story: Report From Rescue Company 1 
// by BRBrony9 
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It took a little while for Chief Firebrand to return to the firehouse- his services had been required in the aftermath of the fire, helping Division Chief Misty Morning with the administrative tasks that were always required- filling out vacate orders for the damaged apartments, recording of minor firepony injuries, and passing out information to other units that were going up to the 14th floor to carry out the salvage and overhauling. Once he did return, the Chief ordered a debriefing session with all the fireponies from Engine 25 and Rescue 1.

Debriefings and after-action reports were very common in the department. They were seen as a good way of helping older, more experienced fireponies to pass on the tips and tricks of the trade to probies and younger members, offering critique of the operation. Both the strategic and tactical elements were considered and given voice in the discussions, which each Chief and officer was encouraged to conduct whenever they had the time, and especially after a major, unusual or prolonged incident. 

The little things were talked about- if I'd worn my flashlight on the other side of my coat it would have been easier for me to access it. It's always worth bringing a couple of bits of wood with you to use as door chocks. I found the standpipe outlet cover hard to remove because it didn't quite meet the standards, that's something we should have spotted during building inspection. The big things were mentioned as well. The wind curtain was vital at stopping this fire from spreading further than it did. Once you can confirm a missing firepony is accounted for, you can safely return the units that were assigned on the 10-66 signal. In case you get hurt at a fire, make sure your next of kin's contact details are up to date so the department can contact them easily and quickly.

Blaze had heard most of it before, but even the experienced fireponies could learn something new. Errors could be corrected, new techniques tested, developed and refined. Every day on the job was a different adventure, and there was always something different that happened, even at otherwise routine incidents. It was a steep learning curve initially for probies fresh out of training, but that didn't mean that the ponies with twenty years under their belts had to stop learning too. For Dawn, there was plenty of new information being imparted, which he tried to make mental notes of. Some of it was given by his brother, some by Lieutenant Coppertop or Captain Grey Spike, and some by Chief Firebrand. Every little lesson had the potential to be life saving in some theoretical future, which was why it was so important that it was listened to, and that was what the debriefing sessions were all about. Never stop learning, as their father, Blaze Beater, frequently reminded them.

The afternoon passed uneventfully, with a couple of automatic alarms and a car which had struck a cyclist, but the 10-77 high-rise fire remained the only major event of the day, giving plenty of downtime for maintenance and cleaning around the firehouse, the menial but necessary tasks that fireponies had to perform when they were not engaged in the more exciting aspects of their job. However, it was only a matter of time before the peace and quiet of the firehouse was shattered once again by the inevitable alarm tones.

Beep-Boop.

'Rescue.'

'Now you're talking, Box 1170! Rosewater Street and Broad Street! Motor vehicle accident with pin!'

Blaze had finally finished the tedious job of waxing the apparatus doors, and now he flung one open and climbed aboard. The rest of the crew scrambled out and got into their assigned positions as Fairway nosed the vehicle out onto the avenue, setting course, lopping around to 7th Avenue to head down south. Rosewater Street was a good ten minutes away if the traffic was heavy, but luckily the worst of the rush hour had not yet set in, and Fairway was able to make good progress through the city streets.

'Battalion 2 to Manehattan?'

'Go ahead, Battalion 2.'

'Box 1170, we have two confirmed pins, two car MVA. Have the Rescue continue in. Squad 18 is on scene putting their tools to work.'

'10-4, Battalion 2. Rescue, received that report, K?'

'Rescue 1, 10-4, we're almost on scene,' Grey Spike replied over the radio. A few blocks farther on, they reached the intersection of Rosewater and Broad. An ambulance was parked up, along with Squad 18, two ladders and an engine. Battalion 2 was overseeing operations; an SUV was on its side with a heavily deformed right side, both doors stove in. Next to it was a sedan with the front end crumpled into an almost unrecognisable mess of twisted metal. The ponies of Squad 18 were getting to work on the SUV and had already stabilised it with cribbing and chocks to stop it rolling while they attended to the driver.

Fairway parked up once he could maneuver through traffic to reach the kerb, and the crew disembarked. Grey Spike went to speak with the Chief from Battalion 2 who was in command of the scene to get his orders. As usually happened whenever there was any kind of incident of note, a small crowd of ponies had gathered to watch proceedings, despite the best efforts of a couple of traffic police officers to try and move them along and clear the pavement and the street. Traffic was backed up along both streets thanks to the accident, another incentive to try and get things dealt with as quickly as possible.

The primary concern, however, was of course for the two drivers, who were trapped in their vehicles. Grey Spike returned with their orders from the Chief- the Rescue was to work with Ladder 5 to extricate the driver of the sedan, while the Squad and Ladder 1 dealt with the driver of the overturned SUV. Clearly the car had rammed into the side of the SUV as it crossed the intersection, but who was at fault for the collision would be left up to the traffic cops to determine, though naturally some of the bystanders had their own opinions on the matter which they were making audible.

'What the hell, bro? The light was red! Like, is he blind?'

'Hey officer, I saw the whole thing! The car just totally jumped the red!'

Blaze surveyed the scene. Responsibility for the crash was not his job to determine. He and the other fireponies were just there to help save lives, not to pass judgement, which was why the MFD was widely respected even in communities and neighbourhoods which had a general distrust and dislike for authority and the institutions of city and state, especially the police and Royal Guard. There were exceptions, of course, but many ponies and creatures of all races who might spit at or shout abuse to a police officer would happily stand aside to allow a firepony get to work.

'Alright, Blaze, standby with the spreaders,' Grey Spike ordered. 'Flagstaff, cut those airbags and disconnect the battery if you can. Looks like Ladder 5 is having trouble popping the hood.' He gestured to where two fireponies were trying to pry open the hood of the sedan with their Hoofigan tools but were running into some difficulties thanks to the mangled state of the metal. 'High Line, make sure the car is properly chocked and secured before we do anything to it.'

Blaze opened one of the side compartments of the rig. Each tool and piece of equipment they used was always stored in the same location on the vehicle, so that it could be rapidly brought into action and every pony, no matter what shift they were on, would know exactly where to find it. Some of the more common tools were located in easy-access locations in the external lockers and compartments, either behind doors or roller shutters, while the less commonly needed gear such as radiation meters, an inflatable boat, and heavy duty struts and cribbing for collapse operations, were stored either inside the rear walk-in compartment, or either beneath or above it. The Rescue had lots of hidden space that allowed it to carry even more equipment than it would seem like a vehicle of its size should be able to.

The hydraulic tools were among the most commonly used pieces of gear carried by the Rescue, and so Blaze was able to quickly retrieve the spreaders from their compartment. The rest of the crew got to work, joining Ladder 5 in their assessment of the patient and the vehicle he was trapped in. The bodywork was heavily deformed by the crash, suggesting the car had been traveling at some speed, a rarity indeed in the usually crowded surface streets of Manehattan, where high speeds were only usually achievable in the dead of night or when traveling on the elevated sections of highway that ringed the island. The airbags had deployed, filling the interior compartment with smoke from the pyrotechnic detonators that fired them when the car crashed. Flagstaff got to work with her horn, using pinpricks of magic to pierce the inflated bags, emptying them of air and getting them out of the way of the operation to remove the driver. A closer inspection revealed that he was trapped by the steering column, which had been shunted backward by the force of the crash and was now pinning both of his hind legs beneath it weight. To compound matters, the pedals had also moved, both injuring and trapping his hooves among them.

Flagstaff communicated her findings to Grey Spike, who conferred with the officer of Ladder 5 as to the best course of action for them to take. The hydraulic spreaders would be able to shift the steering column and free the driver's legs, but they were rather a blunt instrument when it came to the more delicate task of freeing his hooves from the twisted pedals. A more delicate approach was called for, and so Grey Spike ordered Oak Wood to grab a cordless saw. It had to be one that was intrinsically safe- that is, did not produce sparks. Though the car's gas tank had not ruptured, there was flammable hydraulic fluid, oil and brake fluid leaking from various parts of the vehicle's damaged anatomy, all of which could ignite and very much ruin the driver's day even more than the crash had already done. A hose line was stretched and stood by in case of fire, while Ladder 5's can pony, carrying the pressurized water extinguisher, also took up position near the engine block in case anything went wrong.

The fireponies dealing with the SUV were having rather more success. Despite the vehicle being on its side, the driver was not pinned inside, but merely needed removing. The deformed door was also a lot simpler to remove from its frame than the heavy steering column was to bent and shift away from the legs of the car driver, and within a few minutes the SUV's driver had been removed on a backboard and transported to an ambulance for a checkup from the paramedics. Meanwhile, Blaze moved into action once the sedan had been checked over. Ladder 5 had done a perfect job of stabilising it with chocks to prevent it from moving while the driver was attended to by the paramedics, who determined he was in a serious but stable condition with likely fractures to both hind legs. They would have to get him out as soon as possible, but his injuries were not severe enough to warrant rushing the procedures that were required to extricate him. Safety was always the number one priority, both for the victim and for the rescuers, too.

Under Grey Spike's direction, Blaze got to work with the spreaders. Ladder 5 had already removed the driver's door for access, and with one of their members in the back seat holding the driver's head and neck in place, Blaze began to bend and push the steering column and dashboard away from the driver's hind legs. He was clearly in some pain, despite the administration of painkilling drugs by the paramedics. 'It was green...' he kept mumbling. 'It was green...'

While Blaze got to work, the traffic lights continued to change from red to green and back again, though no vehicles were flowing through the intersection thanks to the accident. 'Ok buddy, you just relax and take it easy,' Grey Spike tried to calm him. 'We'll have you out in no time, alright?'

'It was green...' the driver replied with a grimace. Blaze kept operating the spreaders, clearing enough of a gap for Oak Wood to get into the hoofwell of the car and get to work on the pedals that were still trapping the driver in place. Oak knelt down with the saw and made the necessary cuts, slicing each pedal at a safe spot clear of the driver's hooves. Once he had cut the final pedal, the driver was freed. Ladder 5 and the rest of the Rescue crew pulled him free of the wreckage, slowly and carefully, placing him on a backboard and then onto a stretcher. The paramedics rolled him away to one of the waiting ambulances for transport to the nearest hospital.

With both patients freed and in the care of EMS, all that remained was to finish making the vehicles safe so that they could be removed by tow trucks and the intersection could be reopened to traffic. Those were tasks for the police and for the ladder and engine companies. The Rescue's more specialist tools were no longer needed, and at the Chief's direction, Captain Grey Spike ordered them to take up, gather their gear and head back to the firehouse.

It was just another call, just another day, just another bit on their salary.