Report From Rescue Company 1

by BRBrony9

Back To Work

'Hey, look who it is!'

There was another round of applause as Ember Dawn entered the firehouse. After his discharge from hospital, under department policy, he had spent another week recuperating at home before being allowed back to work after a full physical exam at headquarters. The same applied to his fellow injured fireponies, and Coppertop and Striker, were already present; living closer to the firehouse had its advantages, and Dawn had had to take two subway lines to reach it. Celestia Station, where he left the subway, had been fully deep cleaned as a precaution, though there was no evidence that the nerve gas had spread into it from the neighbouring Bus Terminal station. The city had decided, prudently, that it could not be too careful when it came to the lives of its citizens.

Striker was the first to greet him, giving him a slap on the back and a hoof bump. 'Good ta have ya back, buddy. Good to be back, too, am I right?'

'Yeah, it's real good to be back,' Dawn replied with a nod and a grin as he looked around at all the friendly faces, his brother included. Their warm welcome made him feel that he was definitively now part of the firehouse, not a veteran but certainly somepony that the more seasoned members considered to be a dependable and decent firepony. Acceptance was something that every probie craved- the nod of approval from the senior pony on the crew, the pat on the back from the officer after a tough call. To know that they belonged in the job, that they had made the right call in following their dream, and in Dawn's case, following in his brother and father's hoofsteps.

'I dunno man, I'm gonna miss those guys from the truck,' Dark Flash suggested mischievously. 'It was nice to get something done for once when the slackers were off the team!' Everypony chuckled, including Blaze, who gave her a knowing smirk as on the last shift she had been complaining to him about the exact opposite.

'Alright Engine, roll call!' Coppertop announced. 'I'm sure you're all sad to see me back in command...' There was a quick chorus of agreements, which made the veteran officer smirk. 'Striker!'

'Present, Lieu!' Striker replied.

'Dark Flash?'

'Here, Lieu!'

'Deep Blue?'

'Copy that sir!'

'Ember Dawn?'

'Here, Lieutenant!' Dawn replied, completing the company roll call.

'Alright, let's see. Blue, chauffeur as always. Striker, you've got the nozzle. Dawn, backup, Flash, control,' Coppertop read out the day's riding list that would assign each member a seat in the rig and a specific task at a fire or other incident. Dawn was happy enough to still be the backup; he was still a probie, after all, and still had a lot to learn, and Striker was a fine teacher, using his wealth of experience to help guide the younger firepony with hints and tricks of the trade picked up over years of service in all the different positions that members of an Engine Company were expected to take. As he gained more experience, he would be rotated to other positions, with the nozzle being the ultimate goal. That was where every enginepony wanted to be, for it was the nozzlepony who actually extinguished the fire.

Once the morning announcements had been read out, everypony set about the routine work of firehouse drudgery- checking each piece of kit on board each rig to make sure it was in working order after the previous tour. Each tour was meant to make sure everything was ship-shape at the end of their working day, but that wasn't always possible if the unit had been at an incident right before the change of personnel, so to make sure the tools were checked at the start of each shift as well, just in case they might have suffered some damage or wear and tear. A blunted saw tooth or fraying rope could be a danger on the fireground, the difference between life and death, potentially, and so while the task was tedious, every firepony the city over took to it with gusto, because they needed to know they could rely on their gear at every incident they went to.

After that, it was cleaning, polishing, sweeping and mopping the apparatus bay and making sure the rigs themselves were shiny, both for maintenance reasons and to impress and inspire the public whenever they set eyes on the gleaming red and white vehicles of the Manehattan Fire Department. For the Engine, there was then building inspection, or BI, a routine where line companies of the department would visit various buildings within their first-due district to check on fire safety issues and, if necessary, issue citations for failures such as locked emergency exits or improper storage of oil or gasoline. It also had a secondary function, which was to allow the companies to identify potential dangers and problems, unusual situations that they may come up against in the future if a fire or other incident should occur in that building. There were dozens of potential issues that could throw up problems that would force their response to differ from the norm; solar panels or cellphone towers on the roof, guard dogs kept on site, chemicals being stored, weakened floors, missing staircases, non-functional elevators, unusual designation of floors or apartment numbers, renovations changing the layout of an otherwise familiar type of building, security bars on the windows, and countless others.

That took up most of the morning, along with a call to assist Ladder 4 at a stuck elevator with a pony reporting difficulty breathing inside, and another two calls to commercial fire alarm activations that turned out to be accidental. Then it was time for lunch, this time cooked by Flagstaff and consisting of toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. In the early afternoon there was some company training in the rear yard, this time in the use of ground ladders and their correct methods of extension and placement. Two medical calls filled in some time as the clock wore on and the early darkness of the beginning of winter started to set in. Then, at just before five in the afternoon...

Beep-Boop.

'Engine. Rescue. Battalion.'

'Box 7140, West 47th at 12th Avenue! Water rescue, everypony goes!'

Blaze and Dawn mounted up as the bay doors opened, ready to disgorge several dozen tons of metal onto the streets of Manehattan. Headlights and flashing emergency beacons illuminated the avenue as they pulled out, the Rescue taking the lead. It was a quick drive to 12th Avenue that ran along the West River, pushing through the crosstown traffic.

'Manehattan calling Battalion 9, you have the water rescue matrix, reporting a pony in the water at Pier 84. Ladder 4will be your water rescue unit, Rescue 1, Squad 18, TAC 1, Engine 25, Engine 1, Ladder 7 and Marine 1, K.'

'Battalion 9, 10-4.'

Pier 84, formerly a docking site for ocean liners and cargo ships before that, had long since run into disuse thanks to the shift of shipping out to the larger container terminal just across the harbour in the district of New Pony, which could take the much larger vessels needed for bulk transport a lot more easily. As a result, city planners had turned the pier into a riverside park, with trees and plants, benches, an area for yoga and meditation, and a chance for ponies to get away from the bustle of the busy streets for a while and enjoy some relative calm by the river. After dark on an early winter's night, however, it was not a particularly inviting place, with chill air above and chill water below.

A couple of hardy souls were out walking their dogs on the pier, however, but where they had been wandering around, they were now clustered around the railings at the far end of the pier, overlooking the river. At Grey Spike's instruction, Fairway drove the Rescue along the pier, as they knew it was strong enough to take the weight and had done many times. The pier was well maintained, and used to carry heavy forklifts and thousands of tons of cargo- more than sturdy enough to hold a few emergency vehicles.

The Engine stood fast at the street, while Ladder4, designated as the water rescue unit, drove onto the pier with the Rescue and Battalion. The civilians were shouting and pointing, trying to direct their attention to a particular spot in the river. After parking up, Fairway directed the Rescue's roof-mounted searchlight in the direction they were pointing as the rest of the crew climbed down.

'He's over there!' somepony shouted to Grey Spike. 'Somewhere, we lost sight of him!'

'Yeah! I dunno if he jumped or fell or what,' somepony else chimed in.

'Alright, Ladder 4, prep the life ring and magic and standby the rescue swimmers. Rescue 1, start getting geared up for a dive operation.' Firebrand ordered, his firm voice carrying across the pier and helping to calm the fears of the onlookers. The professionals were on the scene. They knew what to do.

'Marine 1 calling Battalion 9 on the 800MHz, K?'

Firebrand ducked back into his SUV to answer the call. 'Battalion 9 on the 800, go ahead Marine 1.'

'We have a three-minute ETA with a southbound current, K,' came the voice of the officer of Marine Company 1, one of the city's fireboat companies. As well as a monstrous 140ft vessel, the largest fireboat in the world along with its sister in Marine 9, capable of pumping the same amount of water as fifty Engine Companies through a dozen nozzles and deck guns, Marine 1 also operated a smaller and much faster rigid-hulled inflatable boat for water rescues and medical responses. That was what was racing its way toward the pier at 40 knots through the inky blackness of mid-river, and somewhere between the two, it seemed, was a victim, male according to the onlookers who had called the emergency number.

Fairway scanned the searchlight slowly across the surface of the water, trying to locate the victim. Blaze helped Oak Wood and Flagstaff with the bulky diving gear, form-fitting wetsuits and SCUBA gear that would allow them, if necessary, to search the murky waters should the victim have succumbed to the chill and the weight of his waterlogged coat and any clothing he may have been wearing, and sunk to the bottom. Dawn and the rest of Engine 25 stood by in case they were needed, but chances are they would be sitting idle until the operation was completed. This kind of rescue work was handled best by the specialist units, the Rescues, Squads and fireboats, in this case.

As the gear was prepped and flashlights scanned the darkness, Fairway brought the searchlight around and spotted something. 'Chief!' he pointed with a hoof. 'Over there, next pier!'

Eager eyes followed the beam of the searchlight and spotted the victim. There was, indeed, a pony in the water, a stallion judging by the shape of his muzzle, as reported. His muzzle was practically the only part of him still above water. He had been carried by the current slightly south of the pier the fire units had been directed to, and was now bumping up against the thick, algae-strewn wooden pilings of the next pier along.

'Alright Ladder 4, get your swimmers in the water!' Firebrand ordered. Fairway kept the searchlight trained on the unfortunate stallion. The throb of an outboard engine could be heard in the background as Marine 1 made their approach to the scene from the south. A police helicopter was usually assigned to a water rescue incident whenever one was available, which would carry police divers to the scene, but that usually took long enough that by the time the chopper could be scrambled to collect the divers, the incident was already over. That would likely be the case here, as there were already fire department swimmers, divers, and a boat on scene, as well as a police patrol boat. Both boats added the power of their searchlights to illuminating the underside of the pier as two fireponies from Ladder 4, clad in dry suits, jumped from the pier and into the frigid water to hopefully grab the victim and carry him to one of the waiting boats.

It was too risky to bring the boat in any closer. The West River was tidal, and the waters lapping against the pillars could carry the boat against them if it wasn't held in just the right place, potentially damaging it and, more importantly, potentially crushing the victim between the hull and the pier. Equally, there was a danger that the boat's wake and turbulence would force water up over his head or knock him from the tentative safety of the piling he was clinging on to. Likewise, the fastest potential method of getting him to safety, sending a Pegasus firepony out to carry him to land, was fraught with danger. A panicking victim in the water had long been known to be a potential threat to a rescuer, as it was common for them to thrash about or grab frantically at whoever was trying to help, inadvertently making it harder to save them and leading to the danger of drowning for both. A Pegasus had additional risk, as if their wings got wet and the feathers waterlogged, it would impact not just their airworthiness, but also their buoyancy should they be pulled into the water or unable to remain airborne.

The two swimmers from Ladder 4, therefore, represented the safest method of bringing the stallion to safety. As they drew closer to him, one of them tossed a life ring attached to a rope, calling for the stallion to put it on if he could do it safely. He shook his head and clung firmly to the pillar instead, forcing the swimmers to close the distance themselves. One swimmer managed to coax the stallion into letting go of the piling and grabbed hold of the victim, supporting him with hooves under his forearms. The other swimmer placed the life ring around the victim's head for added buoyancy before starting the swim to the fireboat which awaited nearby. The crew helped them to bring the exhausted stallion aboard and quickly wrapped him in aluminium heat-retaining blankets before ushering him inside the cabin for medical treatment. An ambulance waiting on the pier would have to move to another location where the patient could be transferred from water to land for transport to a hospital, but there were several spots close by where that could be conducted.

For everyone else, it was time to head back to their stations. The pony was safely out of the water along with the rescue swimmers, and there were no other victims and no other action that needed taking. Dawn was disappointed not to have had anything to contribute, but it was a reminder that not every incident could be as dramatic as his last, even if a life was saved this time. Engine 25, Rescue 1 and Battalion 9 packed up their gear and returned to the firehouse to await the moment their services would be required once again.