Doctor Cook left and the alarm went off. “Station 27, 28, 29, 32, 35, 36. Respond to a structure fire at 83 and North Avenue. Wil from station 27 will be the acting Chief and will take squad one.”
We got there and it was a large fire in a shopping center. Three stores were involved and there were people trapped inside the stores. The captain from engine 32 and 35 had started to search the stores where ever they could get to. I radioed them and said, “Don’t take any chances, if we don’t know that somebody is in there, don’t risk lives. We do not want to lose anyone for somebody that’s not there. We will rotate out ever twenty minutes. Truck 35 do you have the people to handle the increase of fire fighters?” “Truck 35, we have three people so we will be hard pressed to keep up.” “Squad 1 to dispatch, can you get more people for truck 35. If they have a driver permit they can bring out a brush truck. We need help as soon as possible.” “Squad 1 dispatch, put out a 2nd & 3rd alarm, we have four stores and it is spreading fast.”
“Stations 31, 34, 62, 65, 74, respond to structure 3rd alarm fire at 83 & North Avenue. Check in with Squad 1 for assignments.” “Squad 1, responding units come in on the north side. Make aerial attack do not enter the buildings. At this point all we can do is try to stop the spread from on top. Captains advise if you need to have added feeds.” “Ladder 27, Squad 1, we need additional feed.” “Ladder 36, we need added feed as well.”
“Squad 1, dispatch we need additional support. Contact O’Hare and Cook County and bring this to 5 alarm.” “Squad 1, 10-4.” “Squad 1, O’Hare has three trucks in route, Cook has a full 3 alarm complement in route to you. Do you want them on the north side?”
“10-4, put six engines on as relief. The center has a 23,000 Gal. LP tank on the north side of the building. Advise the Cook County Battalion Chief to position himself where he can see the spread. If it gets to that tank we will have to evac the operation. All units copy.”
“O’Hare advises that they can put a crash truck to cover the tank.” “That’s great, but if it shows any sign of fire, evac and advise so we can get a full site evac. We do not want any dead hero’s.”
“Squad 1, how are we coming with help for Truck 35?” “Brush truck is in route with 5 people. ETA 12 minutes.”
“Cook County Chief to Squad 1, we have our RC unit here, anybody can come to it, no charge same as you did for us.” “Squad 1 to truck 35, no charge to anyone same as last time.” “T35, 10-4.”
“Captains advise if you have a need, we have enough units here that no one needs to be depleted.”
It took 22 hours to get the fire under control and another 5 for mop up. Then we had to leave 5 engines and 4 ladder trucks for hot spots.
CC Chief came to me and said he would sit on it till all the hot spots had shown themselves. I told him that if it went more than 5 hours he should contact me and I would relieve him. We shook hands and I left. I got back to the station and Linda was waiting for me.
“Sweetheart you should have taken our truck and gone home.” She said she wanted to wait for me. She said, “I do not know what we would have done without AC. We were rushing around and I am as sweaty and stinky as I was on the last big fire.” “So am I, it is not easy trying to keep up with what is going on. That was one big fire.”
“It was about a 10 alarm fire when it was all said and done. I hope the review board agrees with my actions.” “If they don’t, tell them they were not there.”
“All the firefighters that came to the booth said you were doing a terrific job. The CC Chief came up and said, “He had never seen a fire of this size so well managed.” Linda said, “You are just saying that because I am his wife.” He said he did not know that. He said, “I thought Wil was married to a rich lady.” I told him that was me. He asked, “And you are doing this?” Mrs. Dobby came over and told him that they did not know what they would do without us. “That was nice of her.”
We got home and showered. Linda called their Lawyer to get started on releasing Tammy from my parents. He said that it would not be easy, that he would have to get an Indiana lawyer to handle the case and there could be a lot of legal complications. Linda told him we wanted to go ahead with it anyway. So he said he would start the process and would get back to us in a few weeks. We went to bed and finally got our well-deserved sleep.
The funeral for Lesha was set up for the 14th of June, in two days. Linda went to the funeral with Albert and the rest of the staff. I told Linda, “I had better die first because I do not know what I would do if you went before me.” Linda replied, “Women almost always outlive the men.”