-- The only analogy which comes to mind for the experience which then unfolded, was that it was like traveling into a dragon's domain. We traveled farther into the lair as Rowdy continued to play St. George, using his straight stream lance to skewer the beast whenever it revealed its location with a tongue of flame.
Where ever flames revealed a particularly hot spot, Rowdy would point the nozzle of the hose at the flame and open up on it. There was too much smoke to see the water stream, but I could hear it. With the water came fresh air, and the flames leapt at us, growing larger until the water finally found its target.
At first I grew nervous as the flames came for us, but when they were doused, I missed them. The flames supplied the only visible reference of space and distance. When they were gone they left only a thick, dark sea of smoke. Without the flame reference, I had trouble telling how far away anything was, including my hands and feet. I quickly lost track of the route that we had traveled and lost all concept of how far we were into the structure. The hair on the back of my neck stood up straight the entire time I was in the house, as I was constantly expecting a BLEVE or another flame burst from the dragon.
Progress was slow as we inched deeper into the structure. The floor was burned away in several places. We could not see the holes, and found them by falling into them, or creating them as we stepped on a structurally unsound spot. Rowdy tried to warn me about each hole he found, but his air-tight mask turned his words into an unintelligible garble. I knew when he found a hole, however, by the downward yank on the hose line in front of me. The hose line also told me when Assistant Chief Fire missed my warning or discovered a new hole. They both knew when I discovered a hole. We still could not see each other unless our face piece was nearly resting against some part of our comrade's body, but the hose line allowed us to keep tabs on each other.
At one point the world suddenly fell away and I dropped several feet before finding something solid again. A circular section of floor had given way under me. Desperately clutching the hose line, I almost pulled Assistant Chief Fire and Rowdy in on top of me. They both made loud, muffled noises, which I interpreted to be comments regarding my welfare, though I am not sure if they were concerned about it or threatening it. I managed to communicate to them that I was all right. After a quick look around, I discovered that, though I was standing up, my eye level was even with Assistant Chief Fire's boot, and I looked him squarely in one bright yellow toe piece. I tapped him on the foot and he bent way down to find me. I put my face mask against his helmet, when I finally saw it, and said, "There's a hole here!"
Assistant Chief Fire asked if I could get out without assistance, and I said yes before I knew if I could or not. He moved past me to give Rowdy hose support while I got out of the hole. My airpack got hung up on the underside of the floor every time I tried to climb out. I eventually rotated in a complete circle, using the hose line I still held as a reference, but could not find any breaks big enough to accept my airpack.
While I was mulling over my dilemma, I felt something pat me on the leg. It startled me enough to jump up, only to have my airpack quickly strike the underside of the floor and yank me back down. Still holding onto the hose line, I ducked my head under the floor and was amazed to find clear air. Water is what had patted my leg as somebody had tried to spray a burning beam under the house.
In a different direction from the water stream, someone had cleared away a small wood stack from the front porch outside the house, and I could see the working lights and a couple of fire trucks, so I let go of the hose line and scampered under the house to the front porch. There was a small crowd of firefighters gathered around the front entrance looking into the smoke-filled house. With my airpack mask and all the noise going on on the porch, no one heard my calls form under the house but someone jumped pretty high when I reached up from under the porch and grabbed their leg. With a couple of people tugging on my arms and airpack, I got the assistance I needed and was dragged out from under the house, thanked them, then followed the hose line back in.
Five feet from the door, I dropped to my hands and knees, and with one hand sliding along the hose, and feeling for holes in the floor with the other, I quickly reached Assistant Chief Fire and Rowdy. I also noticed that the smoke was getting less thick. I tapped Assistant Chief Fire on the shoulder to let him know that I was back, and he gave me my old position between them as hose supporter.
The second story was confined to the rear half of the house. A room we later learned was a bedroom, was located above the downstairs bathroom and kitchen. A glow coming from the upstairs room indicated that there was an active fire going on up there. Rowdy wanted to go up the spiral staircase leading to the room and attack the fire, but Assistant Chief Fire did not, because he thought Lorry's crew was initiating an attack from the rear entrance. With me between them, neither one could accurately make out what the other was saying, and Rowdy headed upstairs. I could not let him go up alone, so I helped drag the hose up the stairs. Assistant Chief Fire was not about to be left behind, so he grudgingly followed us up, helping with the hose.
Rowdy hit a few hot spots, then let us know it was a bedroom, and that the upstairs rear door on the far side of the bedroom was still closed. It appeared, however, that a window next to the door was broken open. (Smoke was pouring out the window, but we could not tell that from inside the building.) Assistant Chief Fire tried to radio the outside crews to find out where the other entry crew was and why the rear door was still closed. He wanted to command more ventilation, but the only response he got was people asking him to repeat what he said. Apparently they could not understand him through his airpack mask.
Rowdy asked to borrow Assistant Chief Fire's flashlight. I thought it was so we could do a body search, so I headed for the bed as Assistant Chief Fire handed him the flashlight. When I heard the sound of smashing glass, I turned and saw Rowdy "ventilating the structure" by bludgeoning a window with Assistant Chief Fire's new flashlight. He also saw what Rowdy was doing, and it really pissed him off. He did not appreciate having his flashlight abused in such a manner. While the two of them yelled through their face plates to and at each other, I decided to do a body search of the bed.
I approached the bed slowly, feeling compelled to look for a body but not wanting to find one. The smoke was thinning some, which extended visibility to about three feet, and I could make out body-sized lumps on the bed. Through the smoke the shapes resembled two people lying together, with the heads at the far end of the bed. I could not tell for sure by looking, I would have to feel the bodies with my hands to confirm that there were two. I was wearing gloves, but still cringed at the idea of grabbing hold of some lifeless humans.
I decided to pat one of the lumps where it bulged the largest, near the hips, and looked away as I reached toward the center of the bed. When I put my hand on it and pressed down, I felt a rippling sensation and was immediately overcome with a wave of nausea. It was obvious that I h