Tell My Father's Short Story: The Chicago Fire

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Tell my father

The pager alarm goes off in the middle of the night. A four-story apartment building downtown caught flames due to a faulty heating system. Rushing to suit up, I call my father to tell him about the fire I was about to go to. He was a part of the station for forty-five years until he got too sick to continue. My father says to me, “Son, I love you. Your mother and I are proud to call you ours.” Following in my father’s footsteps was the biggest achievement I’ve made so far as a twenty-four year old. He was my hero growing up. He would go to fires all around the city and save people’s lives. Now that I am on the Chicago Fire Department, I can do that too. The truck pulls up to the burning building, and I can already feel …show more content…

The smoke is so thick I can barely make out the yellow suit of the fireman right in front of me. The sweat is already starting to collect on my forehead. We finally make our way to the staircase. I kick down the door and yell for anyone up the stairs. I can faintly hear the coughs and mutters over the sound of burning drywall. “The residents are up the staircase. We are almost to them,” I page to the responders outside. I plod up the stairs with my fifty-pound equipment pack weighing my back down. We finally reached the crowd of people at the top of the stairwell. “Everyone remain calm,” I say through my oxygen mask. “We are here to get you out of here.” I grab two young girls from a father and start the journey to the outside to get them to ambulance. The smoke had only cleared a little by the time I get down to the first level again. I exit the building feeling the cool air against my neck. We got everyone out of that stairwell and now the secondary team has to finish extinguishing the fire. A woman runs up to me …show more content…

My name is Blake Johnson and I’m here to get you back to your mother,” I tell the young boy. “I need you to remain calm. I’m going to have you jump out this window, but I need you to give me the bear. It’s not safe for you to jump with an object.” The boy shakes his head no. “I promise you that you will see you teddy again. I will have him jump right after you. Okay?” The boy reluctantly gave me the stuffed bear. “I need you to jump out the window onto that bright orange mat right down there. Okay? One, two, three jump!” The boy jumps and lands on the mat safe and sound. The fire has followed me into the room at this point and has engulfed over half the room. I feel dizzy and the smoke started to replace the oxygen in my tanks. I need to jump. I go over to the window and stick my leg out the window getting ready to jump. I can hear the room begin to crackle and all the sudden a piece from the ceiling falls down on me. Even over all the noise from the burning room, I can hear the snap of my leg.
“This is Johnson. I’m in room 412. I’m out of oxygen and now

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