I recently started working as a firefighter, well, not an official firefighter but I am on the trajectory to be one.
I am not really a firefighter like those big guys who wear special suits, risk their lives going into fires, and who appear on television being called heroes. I work as a substitute and when there is some kind of accident with one of the firemen or they need someone else to help I am called in, and while this doesn’t happen, I spend my time packing up the tools and taking out ashes and cleaning up scorch marks from past fires that are left on the fire truck.
I have never really had the opportunity (or misfortune) to go into a burning place, I am only called in to help with the hoses, and not very often I get to see some of the experienced firefighters going into places totally engulfed in fire as if they were dealing with some hot fumes.
But even though I don’t have to go into the fire, I can learn by watching, and of course, listening to the teachings that the veteran of the team Jared tells.
Although he is a big guy with an intimidating appearance, he is by far the nicest person I have met while working here, and with his way of always getting good laughs from people he easily becomes everyone’s favorite person.
Jared is a veteran firefighter who has been working as a firefighter for over 35 years, and has many scars and burn marks left from years of service on his body, which you would be surprised how many of them there are on his body, sometimes giving him the impression that he is an ex-soldier who has fought several wars. He is always telling stories that give context to the scars or “memories of fire” as he says, and how fire can abruptly change the life of someone like him.
His work experience, according to him, started when he had to save his sister from a fire that started due to a mistake in the heater inside her own house at the age of 17, which was the reason for the biggest burn scar on his back, which was when he threw himself in front of his sister so that she could get out of the house. And since that day, he decided that he would dedicate his life to preventing more people from having their bodies burned because of fire.
And among all these stories of fire memories, he is always reluctant to tell about one, or even remember it. Whenever he is asked “what is the biggest problem he has faced dealing with fires”, his expression totally changes and makes anyone terrified by the look on his face. Everyone who knows him knows that he doesn’t like to tell this story that he claims being “‘something impossible for the fire department to fight”.
But since I am a newbie in the team that started working a little less than 3 months ago, I was curious to know more about all those stories and where they came from, so I made the mistake of asking him about it. It was almost instantaneous my regret when the expression of pride in sharing his experience turned into one of regret and morbidity.
” Of all the stories I tell, they are all events that I or anyone else can explain why. “ As he kept saying this, the more his tone of voice changed.
“But only one of them leaves me confused and with goose bumps because, until today, no one has been able to understand or even explain what happened, not the authorities, not the neighbors, not the media, and not even something that can scientifically prove it. So obviously, they hid all the records of what had happened. “
“May 13, 1996” He said with a long sigh “the day we saw a fire whose flames could not be put out. “
I looked at him with a confused face, expecting him to let out a laugh and start making fun of me for believing that, well, at least I hoped that would happen.
But contrary to what I expected, he kept telling me.
“We were called out on a cold winter’s night, which was strange as fires rarely occur on cold days as fire doesn’t tend to spread much.
We were told that the fire had started in an old house in a neighborhood at the northern end of the city just before the city limits. “
He seemed to mumble a few things with each sentence, as if he was talking to himself
“ The fire had been reported by one of the neighbors who lived next door to the house and had been awakened by the hot wave of heat and a huge flash of fire. “
I was apprehensive to know more but I couldn’t let my fear stop me from knowing, I almost asked him to stop telling in such detail, but I just followed quietly.
“When we got there, the fire seemed to have just started, as if we had arrived right at the moment when the ignition that started the fire occurred, which was really strange. “
“And the moment we started to try to put out the fire, we realized that the water had no effect at all, it just passed through the fire as if the fire itself were intangible. “
I could see the hesitation in him telling that, as if he was trying to prove something impossible.
“We couldn’t put the fire out, nor did the fire end, it just kept burning and burning and burning, the parts of the house seemed untouched by the fire, the labyrinth of flames didn’t leave any burn marks, there were no embers or ashes in any of it…”
“It was as if the fire itself didn’t exist, as if all that was just an optical illusion, but what kept it real was the great wave of heat coming from inside the house. “ He looked incredulous at his own story sometimes. “Those flames, that unparalleled heat seemed to burn all my senses and instincts… “
I could see in the reflection of his eyes the fear he had felt, as if he was reliving it as he told me.
“I felt fear, I couldn’t move, I felt my skin burning like I was on fire, all my senses were telling me to leave. “
After saying this, he added one last word that ended this story.
” I recently started working as a firefighter, well, not an official firefighter but I am on the trajectory to be one.
I am not really a firefighter like those big guys who wear special suits, risk their lives going into fires, and who appear on television being called heroes. I work as a substitute and when there is some kind of accident with one of the firemen or they need someone else to help I am called in, and while this doesn’t happen, I spend my time packing up the tools and taking out ashes and cleaning up scorch marks from past fires that are left on the fire truck.
I have never really had the opportunity (or misfortune) to go into a burning place, I am only called in to help with the hoses, and not very often I get to see some of the experienced firefighters going into places totally engulfed in fire as if they were dealing with some hot fumes.
But even though I don’t have to go into the fire, I can learn by watching, and of course, listening to the teachings that the veteran of the team Jared tells.
Although he is a big guy with an intimidating appearance, he is by far the nicest person I have met while working here, and with his way of always getting good laughs from people he easily becomes everyone’s favorite person.
Jared is a veteran firefighter who has been working as a firefighter for over 35 years, and has many scars and burn marks left from years of service on his body, which you would be surprised how many of them there are on his body, sometimes giving him the impression that he is an ex-soldier who has fought several wars. He is always telling stories that give context to the scars or “memories of fire” as he says, and how fire can abruptly change the life of someone like him.
His work experience, according to him, started when he had to save his sister from a fire that started due to a mistake in the heater inside her own house at the age of 17, which was the reason for the biggest burn scar on his back, which was when he threw himself in front of his sister so that she could get out of the house. And since that day, he decided that he would dedicate his life to preventing more people from having their bodies burned because of fire.
And among all these stories of fire memories, he is always reluctant to tell about one, or even remember it. Whenever he is asked “what is the biggest problem he has faced dealing with fires”, his expression totally changes and makes anyone terrified by the look on his face. Everyone who knows him knows that he doesn’t like to tell this story that he claims being “‘something impossible for the fire department to fight”.
But since I am a newbie in the team that started working a little less than 3 months ago, I was curious to know more about all those stories and where they came from, so I made the mistake of asking him about it. It was almost instantaneous my regret when the expression of pride in sharing his experience turned into one of regret and morbidity.
” Of all the stories I tell, they are all events that I or anyone else can explain why. “ As he kept saying this, the more his tone of voice changed.
“But only one of them leaves me confused and with goose bumps because, until today, no one has been able to understand or even explain what happened, not the authorities, not the neighbors, not the media, and not even something that can scientifically prove it. So obviously, they hid all the records of what had happened. “
“May 13, 1996” He said with a long sigh “the day we saw a fire whose flames could not be put out. “
I looked at him with a confused face, expecting him to let out a laugh and start making fun of me for believing that, well, at least I hoped that would happen.
But contrary to what I expected, he kept telling me.
“We were called out on a cold winter’s night, which was strange as fires rarely occur on cold days as fire doesn’t tend to spread much.
We were told that the fire had started in an old house in a neighborhood at the northern end of the city just before the city limits. “
He seemed to mumble a few things with each sentence, as if he was talking to himself
“ The fire had been reported by one of the neighbors who lived next door to the house and had been awakened by the hot wave of heat and a huge flash of fire. “
I was apprehensive to know more but I couldn’t let my fear stop me from knowing, I almost asked him to stop telling in such detail, but I just followed quietly.
“When we got there, the fire seemed to have just started, as if we had arrived right at the moment when the ignition that started the fire occurred, which was really strange. “
“And the moment we started to try to put out the fire, we realized that the water had no effect at all, it just passed through the fire as if the fire itself were intangible. “
I could see the hesitation in him telling that, as if he was trying to prove something impossible.
“We couldn’t put the fire out, nor did the fire end, it just kept burning and burning and burning, the parts of the house seemed untouched by the fire, the labyrinth of flames didn’t leave any burn marks, there were no embers or ashes in any of it…”
“It was as if the fire itself didn’t exist, as if all that was just an optical illusion, but what kept it real was the great wave of heat coming from inside the house. “ He looked incredulous at his own story sometimes. “Those flames, that unparalleled heat seemed to burn all my senses and instincts… “
I could see in the reflection of his eyes the fear he had felt, as if he was reliving it as he told me.
“I felt fear, I couldn’t move, I felt my skin burning like I was on fire, all my senses were telling me to leave. “
After saying this, he added one last word that ended this story.
“Prometheus.”