The Burning Desire to Save

Chapter 11

August 12, 2023

Today was the big day for the fire brigade. Around three in the afternoon, about twenty members of the brigade met up at the firehouse, all of them dressed in their blue and orange work uniforms. As they all lined up to await their orders, Yui said to Rentaro, "Are you ready?"

"Hell yeah," he replied. "The chief told me, Morishima-san, and Suwabe-san we'll get to pack up and play today, so I'll be able to do something. When do you think we'll be done with it, though?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I, uh... I wanted to see if you wanted to enjoy the festival with me afterwards. I was gonna run home and get changed into a yukata."

"Oh," Yui replied. "Sure. I was gonna go with my dad afterwards, but now he says he's not gonna go since he already went yesterday evening."

"You're not gonna go with the other student firefighters?"

"Nah," she replied. "Tomoko-chan and Rumiko-chan are going with their family, Ayumi-chan is doing the same, Shiori-chan and Naoko-chan already went yesterday, and Suwabe-san is staying at the brigade's booth afterwards alongside Naoko-chan and Shiori-chan."

"Ah, okay."

"To answer your question," Yui explained. "We'll need to do some cleanup afterwards, but we should probably be back here by six-thirty in the evening, maybe seven."

Then, Hideaki spoke up, telling the whole group as they all fell silent, "Okay, listen up! Today, we'll be burning an RV at the village's Tanabata Festival. This will be our biggest fire we've had at the festival ever, and I want everyone to be at their one hundred and ten percent when we go down there. Already, Chief Mikazuki and Chief Ueda are down there giving the crowd a warmup of things to come, and the Yoshimatsu Area Fire Department was generous enough to provide a four-man engine crew as the ignition team and safety line in case anything goes wrong. I especially want the student firefighters to get a spotlight, since, as you may have heard, the principal of Harukawa Girls' Academy wants to shut down the program, and we want to galvanize support for it. We already have passed out sheets for who will be riding where, and we will be responding as if it was a real vehicle fire."

Yui looked at the sheet her father had passed out and found that she would be riding on Engine 31. "Hell yeah," she thought to herself. "That'll be the first fire truck to respond."

"Engine 31 will respond first," Hideaki continued. "They will roll out one line and attack the fire. I need three guys on the line and two guys to grab hand tools and saws and standby. Mini-Pumper 32 will respond next and roll out the second line, and for that, I need two guys on the line and two guys to grab hand tools and saws. Ambulance 33 will respond next and stand by for any potential injuries. Finally, Light Rescue 34 will respond and start laying out extrication tools. The idea is to roll out two hose lines, knock the fire down, and then overhaul the RV. Don't go inside the RV until the fire is out or unless you're told to do so by an officer, please. With all that said, let's all get geared up and get on the trucks."

The firefighters then calmly walked to their gear lockers and began to put their gear on. Tomoko told Rumiko, "We're gonna make sure you're on the nozzle since you'll be on Engine 31 with Yui-san."

"Okay," Rumiko replied as she pulled up her boots to her upper thigh and then put her coat on. "I'm pretty excited, actually."

"I bet," Tomoko told her little sister. "I can't wait to see you get up in there and hit that fire hard, Rumiko." As they all finished getting dressed in their gear and walked to their assigned apparatus, Rumiko thought to herself, "Mom and Dad will be watching. I'm sure of it. They'll know very soon I'm not a little girl anymore."