As I walked into the fire-station, it had been a long time. I felt a wave of emotions crashing with each other inside me. I grabbed my pendant fastened around my neck that had my daughter’s face on it for courage, and surely enough, it worked. My boss spotted me and ran over and gave me handshake and my colleagues hugged me.
“Good to have you back Dawson”, they all said to me.
It was good to be back, I’ll admit, but it didn’t take the pain away. I had instant flashbacks; I remembered walking my daughter in and everyone treating her in the same manner as they just treated me, and her walking up that podium and receiving her badge. The first time she drove a firetruck, there were just so many! Suddenly our walkie talkies started producing static and we all heard the same thing:
“Emergency bushfires near the Portland Bridge.”
We jumped straight into action, I was scared out of my wits as I thought about what lay ahead of us. My colleagues called me and I jumped into the firetruck as we rode off. It was the fire season so the dryness and humidity must have started the fire. I spotted the smoke and grabbed my walkie talkie.
“Smoke spotted ahead”, I warned everyone.
We all got ready to fight off the fire but as we neared the sight, the truck suddenly stopped. We all wondered what on Earth could have happened. The driver jumped down and saw the flat tire. I felt my heart beat getting faster as I looked across and saw the flames becoming bigger and bigger as every second passed. The crows above the fire were circling around and you could even hear the panic in them as they cawed loudly.
Because of the flat tire, we couldn’t keep going and the other fire trucks didn’t have the same equipment as us, so they wouldn’t be fully equipped to stop the fires! I stopped for a second as everything turned dizzy and I saw the world spinning around me. I sat down and landed with a thud and my colleague rushed to me.
“Dawson, is everything ok?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” I replied. But in the back of my mind, I wondered, is this what happened to my daughter before they took her away from me? And will the same thing happen to me?
The flashbacks and questions haunted me and wouldn’t go away as I tried to take my mind off them and focus on my job. At this point you could smell the smokiness of the fire and it was crucial that we put them out before the spread even further. So, we called for backup. And within minutes a new team arrived to assist and another truck towed us to the fire sight and we all grabbed our hoses and pointed them straight at the fire. The helicopter above kept coming and going with large amount of water to pour on from above as well. It wasn’t easy, everything kept becoming blurry, and it was as hot as a boiling teapot. I clutched onto my pendant as it kept giving me the strength the fight the monster fire.
My heart-rate quickened every second, but the pendant was like a magical pendant that was speaking to me and giving me strength. With one last bucket of water emptied by the helicopter, they were out. The heat disappeared and we watched the once green and lush trees and bushes falling down, and becoming ashes before our eyes. I clutched onto my pendant, feeling tears form into my eyes…
I did it. I fought the fires. I felt my heart beat pacing down and happiness in every bone in my body. I’m going to remember this day forever, I thought, it isn’t gonna leave me that easily.
