The Rising of the Fire Troopers

Prologue

9:22 AM

Fire Chief Charles Rosu is driving back to firehouse 23. The fire drill is about to begin in a few minutes. Luckily for him, there's not much traffic on the road and the café form where he bought some coffee for his colleagues is near the firehouse, so he won't have any problems getting late. He's got coffee for his colleagues, tea for two of his paramedics and fruit cocktail for himself.

He's got this habit of trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle that he doesn't drink any coffee. He doesn't even see the point of drinking coffee. Coffee is just there to keep awake those who have a lot of work, and he's never had to stay awake for so long. Whenever he had so much paperwork or was assigned to a specific job, he would immediately start and wouldn't stop until he finished. Some even call him workaholic for being so dedicated to his job, but that's what happens when you risk your life everyday to protect the public. Those citizens depend on him and his firefighters everyday. If it weren't for them, half the city would have been burned by now.

After a few minutes, he arrives at the firehouse, it's now 9:33 AM. He got here earlier than he expected. That means he's making a good progress. Usually it takes him about 15 minutes to get here by car, that is as long as there isn't much traffic in the area. One rainy day he had to drive for about 40 minutes due to the traffic jam that he got reprimanded for being late. Ever since he makes sure to wake up very early to avoid repeating the same mistake cause he is not in the mood to be reprimanded again. He may be the station's chief but he's got his responsibilities as well. He can't just leave the firehouse unattended. If there was nobody in charge, the firehouse would have been a mess right now.

After parking his car near one of the fire trucks, he walks towards the building. It doesn't look like the other firehouses in the country, it's one of a kind, very sophisticated and bigger than any other firehouse. While most firehouses have room for only ten vehicles, this firehouse has room for twice the number, meaning it can store about 20 to 30 vehicles. It also has a helipad for twice the number of helicopters needed for firefighting and search and rescue missions. In other words, it is also an airfield. No other firehouse is built like that. Sure other firehouses have their own helipads but none of them have room for more than one or two helicopters.

He opens the door and walks inside the hallway. On the left and right are different doors leading to different offices, each with the name and rank of each volunteer officer written outside, just like in the regular firehouses. What makes it different though is how long it is. It's like a labyrinth. If you don't know which office you want to go to, you might find yourself wandering near the training area or the vehicle hangar. For that reason, a virtual map of the building has been placed at the entrance so that whenever there's someone paying a visit or inspecting the area, he will know where to go to.

After passing by three doors, he arrives at the dining room. It's enormous. Unlike any other firehouses, it has four tables, two couches, a TV and the kitchen needs to be manned by four people. Since there are almost 180 people here, somebody needs to be there. Today though, it's empty, there's no one. Probably because they are getting ready for today's fire drills.

After having drunk all of his cocktail and putting the tea and coffee in the shelf near the kitchen, he exits the building and ends up in the vehicle hangar. It's enormous. All vehicles are placed in a specific order. Trucks and engines are parked on the right side of the hangar, squad trucks and other light duty vehicles are parked on the left side and the armored vehicles and hazmat fire trucks are parked in a special hangar near the training area. Because the space in the main hangar is very limited, the armored vehicles have to make way for the other vehicles as they have been rarely used.

You see, the place is not only a firehouse, it's also a police station and a clinic. When the G.F.R.P.S. was formed, it was aimed to be a company with combined duties, so the building would have to be big enough to have room for enough personnel and vehicles that would be able to do all three jobs at the same time. For that they constructed a building four times the size of an original firehouse. It did cost them a few million euros but eventually they succeeded.