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Mrs Mildred Farquas
910 Smith Street
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Fire Chief
Fire Department
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Dear Chief,
I am taking this
opportunity to thank you for putting out the fire in
my house at 366 Lincoln Street, although you will note from the
address above that I do not live in the house any longer. I can see
that a fire in the cellar is fairly easy to put out. You just fill it
up with water. Too bad my fire wasn't in the cellar.
I was quite worried when
the fire engines arrived, with all that
confusion and running around. My husband said, "it's a good thing it
was daylight or there might have been more accidents." I hope the man who
fell off the fire engine when it lurched in front of the house is
all right. The other engine, the big one, just missed running him over.
They really got the hose
off the engine fast and piled it up in the
middle of the road and started looking for the ends. One man pulled
out one end, put a big spray nozzle on it and dashed into the house.
Another man found the other end and put a big nozzle on it and ran to the
side of the house. Then they both shouted to "start the water".
How ingenious, I would have thought they would have had to screw the hoses
onto a hydrant or truck to get water out of them !
I felt so sorry for the
man with the cap on who was left with the
engine. He was wringing his hands, pulling on knobs and, one would
have thought that he almost looked like he didn't know what else to
do. He finally got into the engine and drove it down the street out of
sight.
I also felt sorry for
the man in the white helmet who kept dropping
his portable radio and waving his arms a lot. Lucky for him it was a
mild day so, when the water from the hose hit him, he probably didn't
catch a cold. After he found his helmet, hand light and portable
radio, he began waving his arms again but, since I was so far away, I
couldn't hear what he was saying. He seemed a might upset and angry.
After a while, the smoke
was getting blacker and blacker so, I thought
it best that I get some of my belongings out of the house. I was
putting together some of my most valued possessions when two men with
tanks on their backs and masks on their faces rescued me. You men are so
thoughtful.
They were in an
excitable state and talking incoherently through the
masks. One pointed to a door; I tried to warn them but, it was too
late. They opened the door to the closet and both charged in. I was
able to get the bigger fellow out without too much trouble but, the
smaller man's tank was caught in the wall. He certainly hit the wall
hard and the big man was right behind him.
I immediately went to
the window to attract attention. I know there
was a lot of men outside running around and yelling. Just the, the man
with "Captain" on his helmet and another man with "Battalion Chief" on his
helmet who were running around the house at top speed collided head on.
The "Battalion Chief" was furious; the "Captain" didn't get up. It's a
good thing that they moved him because that's where the big metal ladder
landed when it fell over.
In the excitement,
someone had closed the closet door where the little
man was trapped and, it wasn't until a little bell started ringing on
the man's tank that anyone thought about him. You people certainly
think of everything ! Imagine a bell on you that rings when you get
caught in a closet.
They got the poor man
out but he almost suffocated when they attempted to revive him with the
breathing machine. Three other people were turning knobs on the bottles
and the air hose while arguing about how to use it. Fortunately, the man
had enough strength to keep pushing the face mask off or he might have
smothered there and then.
By this time smoke was
blanketing the neighborhood. I was most
impressed when your new ladder truck pulled up and the men raised the big
ladder and chopped a hole in the roof. My neighbor still wonders why the
cut a hole in his rood instead of mine but, I continue to tell him that he
should shut up and leave the firefighting to the professionals.
I went upstairs where it
was very hot and smokey. I opened the windows and, it wasn't too bad.
Outside, men were struggling with a ladder which was caught up in some
electrical wires and branches. Someone had moved it, stranded a guy on the
roof and, they now were trying to get it back to him cause he couldn't get
down. They certainly were excited, dancing around with that ladder !
Then I heard a lot of
noise coming from the stairway - hacking,
coughing and swearing. The language was awful ! A man exhorting the
others, "get up there, you @*#%&#@*, get up there !" Through the smoke, I
could see a man lying near the top step of the stairs. He
shouted, "Hey Cap, there's a lady up here !" It must have been "Cap"
who yelled back, "Give her the line, maybe she can get a shot at it
and, watch you language, you @#$&*X$."
Because of the
difficulty I had getting that big hose around, I would
suggest that the bigger men hold the hoses while the little guys run
around with the tools.
If you remember, after
the fire was out, there was a rash of
accidents. A man wearing a white hat and, with more bugles than the
others on his collar came upstairs and berated the man with "Capt."on
his hat for throwing debris out the window without checking to see if
someone was below. Shortly thereafter, there were shouts to stop. The
man with all the bugles had just been hit by a falling sofa while
walking along the side of the building.
The officer with
"Safety" on his helmet was injured and almost drowned when he fell through
a hole in the floor and ended up in the flooded cellar. A chair had been
placed over the hole but the man in the white hat who had gotten wet
earlier made them move it because someone might have tripped over it. He
then told the man with "Safety" on his helmet that he was a dopey bastard
anyway ! Such language !
A "Capt" was making a
close examination of a wall when someone struck it with a heavy tool from
the other side. The "Capt" seemed okay but his helmet was wedged on his
head; they couldn't get it off. He also seemed somewhat shorter.
The man with the white
hat became very pleasant, although he was still quite wet. He told me how
lucky I was and pointed out to my neighbors and myself the importance of
calling the Fire Department in case of a fire. Most big fires are the
result of delayed alarms. Imagine what would have happened had I waited to
call.
In closing, I would like
to say that we haven't had so much excitement
and commotion around here since the little boy rang the false alarm
and the big ladder truck rolled backwards down the hill into the car
with "Chief" painted on it and the bell in front.
Thank you again for your
efforts on my behalf and, I will try not to
leave the iron on the ironing board again.
Respectfully yours,
(Mildred Farquas)
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