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The entire team knew, pulling up to the house, that there were going to be casualties.
The sprawling ranch-style house had been burning for a while, according to the 911 call. Apparently, the caller was annoyed that the LAFD hadn’t shown up yet, considering that “at least one of the closer neighbors had called”. (May would tell them later that it was all she could do to not scream at the caller for not taking it seriously, as it had been at least twenty minutes before she picked up the phone.)
By the time the 118 was climbing out of the trucks, the roof was already gone in several places. Windows had blown out as well, and it was clear that the structure only had a few minutes left before crumbling.
Bobby immediately sent in Buck, Eddie, Ravi, and Albert (on loan from the 147 while Chimney was still away) to do a quick walkthrough, no more than a few minutes. The group immediately split into two pairs and did what had to be the fastest search in 118 history, in and out of rooms as fast as possible, dodging falling debris and ignited furniture
Just as Bobby prepared to call them back, a voice crackled over the radio.
“Buckley to Captain 118, do you copy?”
Bobby sighed, knowing exactly what this was going to entail. “Go for Captain. What did you find, Buck?”
“The entire family. They’re gone. We’re heading back out of the structure.” Buck’s voice was clear of inflection, which meant that he was obviously doing everything he could to not feel, not just yet.
“Good, get out of there. Panikkar, Han, did you copy that?”
“Copy, Captain,” Ravi said, but not through the radio. “We came through a window around the side. There was no one in our path.”
Bobby took a deep breath before reevaluating. “Okay, you go grab a line, start on your side of the structure. Buck and Eddie will be out in just a second. We need to knock this down before it spreads to a neighboring house.” Both young firefighters nodded and headed back to the trucks, taking over the line there.
Less than a minute later, Eddie stumbled out of the burning house, Buck a step behind him. Both clearly had been tearing up, but not from the fire or fumes. And as Buck yanked off his mask, his face wasn’t twisted in sadness of lives lost. No, it was full of rage.
“Five minutes, Bobby,” Buck said, shaking in an attempt to not completely lose his temper. “If we could have been here five minutes earlier, at least some of the kids could have been alive.”
Eddie grabbed Buck and steered him away, whispering about calming down and not losing it in front of the camera crews that were already pulling in, slowed by the residents of the neighborhood who stood by with cameras already filming. Bobby watched them go, feeling for both his firefighter (his heart of gold, tarnished that day by the thoughtless loss of life) and for the young family that wouldn’t have another day.
Selfishness still reigned supreme.