Report From Rescue Company 1

by BRBrony9

Cooldown

Once Pone-Gen utility crews were on scene, it didn't take them long to shut down the steam leak, turning the roar into a hiss and then finally bringing silence back to the streets of Midtown. With the leak contained, fireponies were able to search the crater caused by the explosion, and there, among the fractured concrete and shattered piping, they found two victims, fatalities, scalded to death by the steam, mere passers by, pedestrians sadly caught up by mere happenstance in the maelstrom.

The rest of the buildings around the incident site turned up clear. There were no other casualties to be discovered. The operation continued for the rest of the day, making sure everything was safe, but there were only three deaths as a result of the explosion, and several dozen injuries, both from the bus and from the buildings. It took several days for the cause to be properly determined- flooding caused by Hurricane Gilda had worn away at the earth around both the steam pipe itself, and also a gas pipe which ran alongside it. Electrical cables also ran nearby, and the investigators determined that a spark from a wire with damaged insulation ignited escaping gas from a pipe undermined by the erosion caused by the flooding, which in turn damaged the steam pipe enough to result in a rupture and the steam explosion which had ripped through the surface of the street above, and led to the deaths of three ponies, all tragic victims of circumstance.

All of the fire units who had responded to the scene had to be decontaminated before they could return to their quarters; the Hazmat Company had conferred with utility workers and determined that the broken steam pipe had been lagged with asbestos, formerly a firepony's best friend when it was used in early protective clothing and as fireproof insulation in buildings, but now known to be a health hazard. The fireponies had to be hosed down by Engine Company personnel to make sure they didn't retain any of the potentially deadly fibres anywhere on their body or gear. Only then could they be released to return home.

Engine 25 and Rescue 1 were back in their firehouse some three hours after leaving it. Other units would take over for the more thorough secondary searches of every affected building, as well as the subway below ground. They would stand by while the utility crews set about trying to repair the damage, in case anything else went wrong. Meanwhile, the first-due units were able to rest up and relax, some downtime after their exertions. Once again they had kept ponies safe, helping to evacuate hundreds of unfortunate victims who had been caught up in the confusion.

Breeze and Dawn met up in the break room, slumping in their seats. It had been a tiring call, but a rewarding one, for together they had helped to save lives. The two brothers shared a knowing glance with each other. Dawn may not have been a firepony for very long, but he already knew what it meant- it meant brotherhood, not just with flesh and blood, but with every member of his crew, and with every other firepony, no matter what unit they were with. It had always been the same down through the years, and the look the brothers shared would have been shared countless times over by their father and his buddies in the past. Not much needed to be said, but Blaze spoke up anyway.

'Your first steam leak, huh?' he asked his brother. 'First big one, at least.'

'Yeah...' Dawn replied with a nod. 'Crazy stuff. You don't even realise what's going on beneath your hooves. Most of those ponies we helped today wouldn't have even known there was a big-ass steam pipe running right down that avenue.'

'Well, there's a lot your average city pony doesn't know,' Blaze replied with a chuckle. 'Some of them should really pay more attention. But hey, I heard you did good, again.'

'Who told you that?' Dawn smiled. His big brother was second only to his father in terms of being an inspiration to him, and words of praise were always music to his ears, even though he was not in it for fame and glory. He was in it for two reasons- to help other ponies in need, and to meet the expectations of his family. Public service was a rich vein running through their ranks, and had been that way for many generations. Dawn wanted to continue that, and being exposed to the fire service from a very young age made it the logical choice for him to pick when it came time to choose a career. It was a tough life and a hard job, facing grueling heat and smoke, sub-zero temperatures and lashing rain, unknown risks on every call, no matter how minor it may seem at first glance. But it was a worthy calling, one which the inhabitants of Manehattan respected. Even the down-and-outs, the criminals, the relative scum who dwelled on the fringes of society or just beyond the law and who would be openly hostile to any police or city government presence in their street, tended to relent and be understanding whenever fireponies came by. They were not there to enforce any laws or to evict anypony. They were there to save lives and protect property, no matter who was in danger.

'Alright, good job out there, everypony.' Captain Grey Spike addressed the assembled fireponies. Chief Firebrand was still at the scene of the steam leak- as the initial incident commander, was still helping to coordinate the department's response. The incident was under control, but that did not mean that there was nothing more for fire units to do. With the Chief absent, Grey Spike was the highest ranking firepony left at the house, placing him in de facto command until Firebrand returned. 'Make sure your gear is ready to go out again,' the Captain cautioned. 'I know you all got decontaminated before leaving the scene, but I'd say it was a good idea for everypony to go take a shower as soon as you can, just in case. Don't want any asbestos residue anywhere around this firehouse, thank you very much.'

'Right, Cap!' somepony replied. Keeping clean and fresh was important, especially after a long and grueling call such as the steam leak, which had lasted for several hours and seen the fireponies sweat, get covered in dirt, and showered with debris raining down from the sky after being spewed out from the broken pipe, which in this case unfortunately included asbestos. Firepony health was of the utmost importance, for an unfit firepony couldn't do their job to the level required. Having been exposed to asbestos, every pony who had responded to the scene would have to take a department medical exam at headquarters some time in the next week, as an added level of security- never something fireponies looked forward to at the best of times, their yearly checkup being one of the most hated days of the year, both because of the poking and prodding and awkward questions from the doctors, but also because it took them away from their job- away from the frontline, where they were meant to be protecting the city.

Some of the fireponies headed straight for the locker room to shower, but Blaze and Dawn remained in their seats, content to just sit and chat for a bit, brother to brother. Ever since Blaze had moved out of their parents' home, opportunities for fraternal contact like this had been relatively rare for the pair of them. Blaze had moved out to his own apartment to attend college, and then had joined the MFD, living from another apartment elsewhere in the city. Dawn meanwhile had continued to live at home for several more years, due to the weaker financial situation their family had faced, until they and he, through other jobs, could afford to send the younger brother to college, where he had met Rosebush. Now that the two brothers lived apart from both their parents and each other, it was even rarer for them to spend much time together, which was why Blaze, and their father Blaze Beater, had been keen to get Dawn assigned to the same firehouse as his big brother. Blaze had been recommended for transfer to the Rescue by his old unit just as Dawn was coming through training, and by happy coincidence there had been a space in Engine 25. Another probie had been assigned there initially by the bureau of training, but Blaze Beater had a few words with some of his old friends from the job, got a few strings pulled, and hey presto.

In turn, every firepony in the house took a quick shower to wash any last trace of asbestos away. The city decided to be kind on them and give them time not just to wash but also to eat; no calls came in for either unit, quite a rare thing for the Rescue especially, given that it covered most of the borough and responded on such a wide variety of calls. The hands of time, however, had not stopped entirely, and it was only a matter of when the alarm tones would sound.

Beep-Boop.

'Engine.'

Out they went. Fairway now had the housewatch, and read out the signal.

'906 West 44th, at 11th Ave! Medical, pony unconscious in Apartment 1A!'

The Engine crew mounted up. Medical runs were their most common duty, along with false alarms. In its infinite wisdom, the Department decided some years ago to merge with the city's public ambulance and emergency medical service, which had both its advantages and disadvantages. Over the years the role of the Engine Company had grown more deeply involved in the provision of medical care to ponies- what started out as selected companies and, more commonly, Battalion Chiefs being issued with so-called 'resuscitators,' simple ventilators and oxygen masks to help revive victims of smoke inhalation, had grown into the Engines being outfitted with a variety of medical equipment, including defibrillators, bag-valve oxygen masks, medicines to rapidly counteract the effects of opiate drugs, backboards, stretchers and a wide variety of other items to enable the fireponies- trained as emergency medical technicians- to help patients before an ambulance could arrive. Naturally, despite the ambulances being more numerous and more nimble than the big, lumbering Engines, it invariably seemed that the fireponies would arrive on scene before EMS on almost every occasion.

This time was no exception. Engine 25 had a clear run through the streets thanks to police diversions of traffic after the steam explosion, and they arrived at the street corner. A quick search located the correct address, and Dawn and Striker headed inside with the medical bag and defibrillator. Apartment 1A was inside on the left, and Striker knocked on the door. It was quickly answered by an elderly mare.

'Oh, thank goodness you've come! Quickly, in here.' She ushered them inside.

'Is it your husband, ma'am?' Striker asked.

'No, no,' she replied. 'No, it's poor young Milk Bottle from upstairs in 2B. Why, I only went up there to take her some of my fresh muffins like I do every few days, and I found her in the hall, just lying there! I thought she was dead, but she's breathing. My husband and I carried her down here to our apartment.'

Lying on the couch in the living room was a young blue unicorn mare, being tended to by a black earth pony, the husband of the mare who had answered the door. Her eyes were closed and she was unconscious, but breathing, though only shallowly. Dawn took out the bag-valve mask, a simple device with a mask to fit over her muzzle and a bag which could be squeezed rhythmically by a first responder to push oxygen into her lungs until EMS arrived with more sophisticated equipment. He also took out a portable EKG machine, an electrocardiogram, to record her heartbeat and pulse rate. Striker applied the mask to her and began to help her breathe, while Dawn set up the EKG sensors. The device showed her heart rate to be elevated. Despite being unconscious, she appeared red-faced.

'Ma'am, when you found her, you said she was in the hallway?' Striker asked the mare, who nodded.

'That's right, just lying there!' she added.

'Was she coming home from someplace? Or had she just come out of her apartment?' Striker questioned.

'Well, she's usually home at this time...her door was ajar,' the mare replied. 'Maybe she had a heart attack or something, and she tried to go for help? Oh, the poor dear...'

'Not a heart attack, ma'am,' Dawn replied, beginning to get the same suspicions that he suspected his partner was now forming in his mind. 'Her heart rate is elevated but stable...did you go into her apartment at all?'

'Oh no,' the mare shook her head. 'I don't like to intrude like that. I just wanted to help her.'

'Does she live alone?' Striker asked.

'No. She lives with her marefriend, Opal Crest,' the mare explained. 'But she's usually at work at this kind of hour, I think. Oh, do you think I should call her? She works for the city, uh, what is it she does, now? Oh yes, she works for the sanitation department, does the filing and answers the phones, you know.' The mare began to ramble somewhat, and Striker looked at Dawn.

'She's got all the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning,' Striker muttered under his breath. 'What do you think?'

Dawn nodded. 'That's what I was thinking, too. Should I make the call?' Striker nodded, and Dawn activated his radio. 'Engine 25 Backup to Engine 25, K?'

'Engine 25,' Lieutenant Coppertop replied from outside.

'We have a possible CO incident in Apartment 2B. We have one patient removed to Apartment 1A and possibly a second victim in 2B,' Dawn explained.

'10-4, we'll take a look,' Coppertop replied, and he and Dark Flash geared up, putting their air tanks and masks on and leaving Deep Blue at the rig to direct the paramedics and relay a message to the dispatcher. Inside, they climbed one flight of stairs and located Apartment 2B; it was the one with the door that was ajar. Coppertop pushed it open and entered the room. Everything seemed normal, just another domestic scene of regularity. There was no smoke, no fire. What there was, however, was an insistent beeping tone from the carbon monoxide meter that the Lieutenant had collected from the Engine. Sure enough, the deadly gas was present in significant quantities inside the apartment. Coppertop relayed a message to Deep Blue to send to the dispatcher, requesting additional units and a Chief to respond to the scene as they conducted a search.

The kitchen and living room were empty. So was the bathroom. But in the bedroom, they found a white earth pony mare, seemingly just asleep in the bed. But with high levels of carbon monoxide in the apartment, she was almost certain to either be unconscious, or dead. Coppertop quickly hefted her up onto his back and carried her out of the apartment and down the stairs to fresh air outside.

He laid her down on the sidewalk. The ambulance assigned on the initial simple medical run had arrived, and the paramedics were gathering their gear.

'Hey, we have two patients!' Coppertop shouted to them, after removing his mask. 'CO poisoning. Call for another bus and check this one, will ya? My boys are looking after the other patient.'

'Right!' one of the paramedics nodded, quickly getting on the radio, while the other brought the equipment over to check on Opal Crest. She was breathing, only shallowly, but like her marefriend, she was alive.

Once Deep Blue had called it in over the radio, it was a matter of moments, it seemed, before other fire units were descending like flies on the address. Engine 202 Acting 65 was first to arrive, followed by Ladder 26. The Chief, Battalion 45 Acting Battalion 9, rolled in. Firebrand was still busy at the steam leak, and so another Chief from way out in the borough of Princess had moved in to cover his operational area. Once more resources were on the scene, the incident was relatively routine. Readings were monitored, the apartment was opened up and ventilated with a positive-pressure fan. The source of the carbon monoxide leak was located- a faulty gas stove in the apartment's kitchen. Evidently Opal and Milk had been asleep in the bedroom when Milk had been awoken by something- most likely a splitting headache caused by the concentration of the poisonous gas in the air. She had stumbled to the public hallway, either in search of help or simply through subconscious routine, where she had collapsed and been fortuitously found by the elderly mare from the floor below.

Thanks to the happy circumstance of her muffin delivery, the incident had been detected relatively quickly, identified by Striker and Dawn, confirmed by Coppertop and Dark Flash, and mitigated by the other units which responded to the scene. Both overcome mares were taken to hospital, but thanks to quick and decisive decisions made by Dawn, Striker, and Lieutenant Coppertop, they would both survive their ordeal.