Chasing Fire Chapter 5 - Life of the Everyday Probie (Jakes POV)

Chapter 5~ Life of the Everyday Probie (Jakes POV)

Firemen: your worst day is our everyday. ~Michael Perry
(volunteer firefighter from Wisconsin, as quoted in Into the Fire)

Waking up as the tones wailed through my pager and throughout the house, I tried to ignore it at first, but then jolting up and out of bed, I remembered what the chief had told Embry, Quil, and I yesterday. That if the tones go off right before our shift to get to the fire house right away. My shift didn’t start for another three hours, but that didn’t really matter to me any ways, Harry said he would need us.

Jumping out of bed and throwing on my uniform, I ran out of my house as fast as I could as I was still trying to get my pants on. Flat out darting to my car, I jumped in and peeled out, the dust from the drive flying in all directions behind me, throwing small pebbles out every where. Looking down at my clock on my radio I realized it was only four thirty in the morning, good thing too, that meant no one would be out an about just yet, thankfully.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins, waking me up even more then I already was. I raced down the road to get to the fire house so I could go on my first official call as a fireman of the La Push Volunteer Fire Department. I was going a little over the speed limit and had my little red light going on the top of my car, so the little traffic that I did come upon got out of my way fast.

Pulling into the station at the same time as Quil, we both parked our cars and jumped out making a mad dash inside, as the others were jumping into the trucks.

“You boys get to work making breakfast for us, we will be back as soon as we are done. Get settled in, its been a long night for us,” Harry yelled from inside of the truck as he pulled out, lights and sirens blaring.

“Welcome to the department probie,” Lain Sarna said while he leaned over Harry looking directly over at me. Harry and the others were laughing and waving at us as they went.

Embry came out of the kitchen looking like Quil and I both at the moment, totally disappointed. All of us wanted to go on our first call, we were craving it, almost like we could taste it.



“What was the call? I didn’t even take the time to listen to it, I just got dressed and came straight here,” Quil asked us.

“Alarm drop at the school, something we could have handled easily,” Embry said.

We had done training at the school for the very thing, during out time at the academy. Frustrated, we all went into the kitchen and got to work on their breakfast. We knew that this was one of our jobs any ways, probies always ended up doing all the cooking and cleaning.

As soon as they got back we had it all finished and ready for them. Chief Clearwater looked impressed. Eggs, bacon, toast, and juice laid out on the table ready for all of them to eat, and plenty of it too. Firemen could consume a lot of food after a call. They were gone for about two hours. Long enough for the first shift paid firemen to get there, so we had to make breakfast for them too.

As soon as they were done eating they left us a little of the food and told us to clean up after we were done. We sat there in silence eating until the food was gone and until the chief came back into the room and grabbed a cup of coffee. The night shift guys left right after eating.

It got quiet in the fire house after that, all except Paul that is. You could hear him upstairs running his mouth about something that happened last night with my sister. He had been dating Rachel for over a year but broke up last month and I couldn’t stand him. He had broke my sisters heart and that shit pissed me off.

“Boys, we are getting ready to do some training on the trucks, so get this mess cleaned up so you can join,” Harry told us, making me jump a little after trying to listen to see what Paul was complaining about. If he was running his mouth about my sister I would shut it for him.

All three of us nodded our heads and started getting everything cleaned up. We cleaned in silence again. By the time we got done it was already eight in the morning and our shift had already technically begun .

Our shift was from seven in the morning until four in the afternoon. Quil, Embry, and I would have to work this shift ’til we got our bearings and became paid firemen. If there was a call at night we could go to those calls as well, it would give us more points and more experience to help us become paid firemen.

As soon as we were done cleaning Harry came in to get us and bring us out to the truck bays. He introduced us to the other firemen that were on our shift. There was another probie that started two weeks before us, from a school in California, his name was Ty Randal.

Ty was cool though, he looked like the rest of us. Come to find out, his mother grew up here on the rez and he was one of my cousins. His mom and my mom were cousins, but him and his mom moved to California when his dad died. His dad used to be the chief here at the fire department, before Harry became chief.

The rest of the firemen I already knew; when you live on the rez, everyone knew everyone. We were a close knit family so to say.

On our shift we had Sam Uley, Paul Sarna, Jared Mcburney, Devon Lebmon and us four probies.

When we walked into the bay, the Chief and all the other paid men were standing there looking at us. Harry smiled then turned to Sam.

“They are all yours Sam.” With those words Harry turned and walked towards his office with his coffee still in his hand. His secretary Kathy was standing there with a stack of papers for him to sign.

Sam and the others watched as the Chief walked away then turned to us smiling the same way Harry had been.

“Today, boys, we are going to teach you where we keep everything in the trucks, plus do some maintenance to them as well. You will be required to do the maintenance on each truck every morning after breakfast. You will also be required to know where everything is on each truck, so that is were we will start. Jared, go get me a hose clamp.”

We all watched as Jared went to engine number 1109, straight to the back door grabbing a hose clamp and running it back to Sam, placing it in his hand and stepping back into the line. Sam smiled at him and stepped towards us.

“Jared and Devon will be showing you were everything is on the trucks today, listen to them. I will be asking you today, at the end of your shift, to get me something off the trucks. If you don’t get it right all of us will have to stay until you do and Paul doesn’t like to stay after. So my advice to you is make sure all of you know your stuff.”

Sam nodded to Jared and Devon and we all got our first shift under way. They took us through each truck one by one, slowly, so we could see where everything was. After that they left us so we could become familiar with the trucks and could go back over each one learning them.

It took all day and we still had maintenance to do on each truck. Around noon the guys came back in and started pulling the trucks out of the bays. After they were each pulled outside, each driver of the trucks came back around to us and handed us a clipboard for each truck. The clipboard had a piece of paper on it with all the stuff we had to do to each truck; check the lights, make sure the siren works, check the breaks, oil, we even had to wash each truck.

In the middle of doing all the maintenance Seth came walking through the parking lot. Seth was the chiefs fourteen year old son. He had this ‘wow you all are amazing, so I’m going to follow you all around attitude’. He followed Quil, Embry, and I everywhere we went. It drove us nuts, usually we tried to ditch him, but here at the fire house I guess that would be impossible.

He walked right by us though and straight into Harry’s office. We could hear Harry talking to him and Harry telling Seth to leave us alone, that we were working. As soon as we were done with all our work the guys brought the trucks back in and checked them over to make sure we had done a good enough job. Once they were satisfied they lined up again in front of us.

Sam looked over at Devon and he told me to find a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus. I went straight to the truck and brought an air tank and mask back to him. They all smiled and I took my place back in line with the rest of the probies. Embry and Ty were both told to get their items and they both did great, but it was Quil’s turn now, and Sam was the one telling him. Sam looked over at Quil and at all the paid firemen and smiling, told Quil his object. I almost laughed but kept it in when I saw Jared look at me with a face that I thought could kill.

“ Quil, go get me a Hose Stretcher.”

I had figured they would try something to mess us up, but damn, this one was an old trick, the thing was Quil actually went to look for it. Shaking my head I knew we would be here for awhile.

While Quil looked for the ‘Hose Stretcher’, Seth came out and stood next to Sam.

“What’s going on?” he asked Sam.

“Hey Seth. Well, we are testing these newbies on where things are located on the trucks and we told Quil to find the hose stretcher.” When Sam said the words hose stretcher he winked at Seth and Seth started dying laughing.

Even the kid knew that a hose stretcher was a fireman. There was no tool, a fireman stretched the hose out. Damn it Quil!

While I was watching Quil, Seth came over and stood next to me, arms crossed over his chest.

“You all are lucky they didn’t do the hot sauce trick on you all, I’ve seen them do that one and the guy they did it too, well, lets just say his mouth is still burning.” Seth chuckled, but I had no clue what he was talking about.

“Seth what are you talking about?” I asked.

Seth looked totally stunned.

“You never heard of the hot sauce trick, its even older then the hose stretcher trick. Okay, one of the bottles is filled with tomato juice the other is filled with hot sauce. The firefighters bet the newbies that they can’t chug the bottle and they say they will do it with you. But really they are just drinking the tomato juice while your mouth is burning and you’re screaming and they are laughing. It’s crazy to watch.”

“Wow they really do that? Yikes.” He just shook his head.

Quil came around the truck as Seth finished the story looking totally disappointed.

“Man I can’t find it anywhere.”

Rolling my eyes at him I told him what Sam had done and explained to him that the firemen were the hose stretchers. He didn’t think it was right for them to try to trick us, but Seth explained how they always do it, it’s a tradition and all firemen do it to welcome in the probies.

After all was said and done, we finally got to go home, after Quil ranted and raved about it for twenty minutes straight.

Rolling my eyes at him, Embry and I both walked out into the parking lot and to our cars leaving him standing there still talking to himself.

That night after I got home from my first official post, I ate dinner and crashed. I was so tried and the adrenaline from hoping to get to go on my first official call, had taken its toll on me. Plus, I knew I would need my rest for the next day’s shift. There was no telling what Sam would have in store for us.


Waking up the next morning to what I thought was my alarm, but wasn’t, it was my cell phone telling me I had a text. Grabbing my phone from the nightstand next to me, I looked down to see it was a text from Bella…

Hey you, I’m all settled in and so excited to start classes.
Hope all is good with you, how’s the new job going?
I hope all is great. Give your dad a big hug for me k…
Love ya

I typed a fast reply, telling her that everything was good, work was great, and at the end typing the Love you too, but to me, I really meant it, I only wished she did too.

Getting up out of bed and grabbing some clothes and a towel, I headed straight for the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for work. Standing there under the steaming hot water, I thought about Bells and how much she meant to me, without even realizing what I was doing. I ended up stroking it to her face, looking deep into her eyes, eyes that always saw right through me. I could hear her say my name…Jacob, oh, fuck me Jake. Pumping harder, I was almost there when my cell phone went off again, another text. Trying my hardest to ignore it, I keep stroking until I screamed out Bella’s name and I’m pretty sure the words Holy Shit came out of my mouth too.

With my head against the wall of my shower, trying to catch my breath but failing miserably, I slowly released my dick and stood up straight. Taking a deep breath I slowly stepped out of the shower and wondered what the hell brought that on. I hadn’t jacked off in a long time, hadn’t had to really. Damn, thinking of Bells like that was hot.

Shaking my head to get myself out of that thought, I dried off real fast and got dressed. I walked back to my room and grabbed my cell only to realize it was Sam who had texted me this time.

The text from Sam was simple and to the point, just like Sam. Go to my old house. Was all it said. So I hurried up and finished getting ready, grabbed me a bite to eat and drove straight to Sam’s old burnt down house.

The drive over, I recalled the day that Sam’s house had almost burnt to the ground with Emily in it. She was trapped upstairs and couldn’t get out, the stairs had caved in. I could still remember every detail in perfect clarity.

Hearing the fire trucks at the age of twelve was always the best part of the day if they went out. I loved to stand out there and watch them drive by, my dad in the front seat waving to me as they drove past. I wanted to be just like him and couldn’t wait to be old enough to go to the academy and train to be a real fireman.

My dad was only a volunteer but he loved it.

I could smell the smoke in the mid-day air before I heard the sirens. I knew it had to be close. Running up the beach a little from where I was hanging out with my friends, I could see the flames billowing out of Sam Uley’s house.

Standing there staring at the house being engulfed in flames, I suddenly heard a woman screaming for help. Looking in every direction, I heard the sirens but they were still a ways off, and I was just a kid, I couldn’t do anything. She was begging and praying for help. I knew the voice, it was Sam’s fiancé, Emily…

“HELP….PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP ME…SAM, PLEASE COME SAVE ME…I CAN’T GET…” I could hear her coughing and knew the smoke was getting to her. I desperately was praying right along with her that Sam and the firemen got to her fast enough.

I knew this was going to devastate Sam but he was a tough fireman; he could go in there and get her and come out with nothing wrong.

Boy was I wrong. Emily came out of that house hurt badly. The fireman had gotten there a few minutes later and Sam ran into that house like a bat out of hell, but it took him forever to reach her. She ended up with bad burns on her face and down her arm. Every time I saw Emily I thought of that fire and the urge I had to get in there and save her at the age of twelve. That fire was the reason I became a firemen in the first place.

Pulling into the drive way, looking over at that guys, I could see it all happening again, like everyone were ghost people running around, flames still blazing inside the two story house. That two story house was just a pile of burnt ashes now. Sam and Emily had been wanting to rebuild but they haven’t had the money.

Getting out of my car, I headed over to where all the guys were standing. Quil and Embry were already there.

“What took you so long?” Quil asked.

“I was in the shower, damn how did you get here so fast?”

“I rode over with Embry.”

We watched as Sam walked around his old house with a downcast face. Then he started to talk and everything went quite around us, not even a bird chirped.

“Most of you know this, being as we live on a reservation and we are such a tight knit community, but I need the newbie’s to hear this story. Jake, I know you were there and I know the fire urged you to be a fireman, so you need to hear this story just as much as the others.” Looking at me as he said this, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and went on with his story. “Being such a tight knit community has its advantages and its disadvantages. We know everyone around here so if one of us needs something there is always someone there to help out. But, when fire strikes or danger strikes you always end up knowing the person that its happening too. As a firefighter you cannot freak out. The day my house caught fire with Emily trapped inside was one of the worst days of my life. Jake you arrived first and through talks with me and your dad I know you wanted to go in there and save Em. You were just a kid and still felt that pull to save her, but like I said you were just a kid.”

“But Sam I could have….” he stopped me from saying what I was going to say.

“No, you couldn’t have. Emily was trapped upstairs, the stairs had collapsed, the fire was raging when we got there. I could hear Emily screaming begging to be helped. I ran in there, only thinking of her and that was my first mistake. I didn’t care about my safety or anyone else’s. I just wanted her out of that house…yes I got her out, but that house fire will always be etched into her face and arm for the rest of her life. She always says it’s a part of her, a part of her journey in life. Emily is a very strong person, I’m a very lucky man. But what I’m saying is, you can’t panic, or rush into something even if you know the person inside. You have to take a minute to look at the bigger picture. You’re going to know the people that get hurt, but you have to think of the others before you act.”

He kept looking at each of us as his talk went on, he was drilling it into our brains over and over, think before you act. He was right though, we would know everyone, and I knew that was going to be hard.

What I didn’t know was that Sam’s lesson would have to be put into action a few weeks later….





*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Thanksgiving weekend came fast, I was working my butt off at the fire department, we had several calls since Sam’s talk, but nothing that bad had happened. A kid almost drowned at First Beach but he was fine; an old lady burnt some toast and swore her house was on fire, but when we got there she wouldn’t let us in and sent her huge giant dog after us. The life of a fireman was crazy at times but I was loving every minute of it.

I had talked to Bella a lot since she moved, she called me all the time and we texted back and forth. It was great, we were getting even closer then we already were.

She was on her way home for Thanksgiving and I was so excited to see her. I couldn’t wait to sit down and talk face to face without a phone and a few states in between us. I wanted to be able to look into those breathtaking chocolate brown eyes and soak up every word she spoke.

The day she got home I did just that. As soon as I got off work I headed to Charlie’s house and we sat and talked for hours. Hearing her say my name and seeing her eyes light up when she was excited and telling a story about her new friends at college did funny things to me. She was a force that pulled me in and kept me like a magnet. I wasn’t able to miss a thing when it came to her, like how she used her hands to show a story, how her lips moved and how she bit her lip when she was nervous.

She was going to be in town for a week and I could spend the entire week absorbing everything she had to say, I was so happy about that.

My family and her family always did Thanksgiving together, Bella always cooked with her mom in the kitchen and us guys were always in the living room watching a game or something.

I was excited about spending the whole day with her, I had the day off. As I helped my dad out of the car and into his chair, I saw the angel of my eyes at the door holding it open with a smile on her lips. Bella was standing there in all her glory in a white strapless dress and a blue cardigan. When she was younger you wouldn’t have caught her dead in a dress, but now…wow, she took my breath away.

“Hey, you,” she said still smiling at us.

“Hey yourself. Damn, something smells good in there,” I told her as we reached the door where she was standing.

“That would be my pumpkin pie, just pulled it out of the oven. Everything else is almost done, Charlie’s in the living room with the game already on. I have to get back in there before my mom burns something.” She gave me a quick hug and walked back into the kitchen where her mom was cursing at something.




*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


I was sitting there in the living room watching the game with the guys, well, not really. I was trying my hardest to strain my ears to hear what Bella and her mom were laughing about. Finally I gave up though and got up and went in there with the excuse that I needed another Coke.

When I entered the room, she was standing by the sink, her head tilted back slightly in laughter. She was laughing so hard that her eyes were watering and she was trying hard to catch her breath.

“What’s so funny in here?” I asked, heading to the fridge to get that coke, keeping up the charade that I needed one.

“Nothing really, just catching up,” she said smiling at me. My heart melted right then and there. God I wanted her to be mine. I needed her to be mine…

I didn’t say another word and I felt them watching me as I left the room. I slightly heard Renee, Bella’s mom saying something like ‘That boys got it bad for you,’ but I couldn’t hear Bell’s answer. I walked back into the living room where my dad and Charlie were yelling at the TV and sat back down on the couch thinking about what Bella could have said, hoping and praying she felt the same way about me as I did her.

The rest of the day, was uneventful, we ate a delicious meal; turkey, potatos, green beans, dumplings, corn, carrots, stuffing, and for dessert, we had pumpkin pie and peanut butter pie. It was so good and I was stuffed by the time it was all over. It was a great day all around; any day with Bella was great for me.

God, I did have it bad for her, as her mom had put it.

When we got ready to leave Bella pulled me aside and asked if we could have lunch the next day. I told her I had to work, but she was more than welcome to come by the firehouse and we could have lunch there.

She promised she would be there around noon.

The next morning I got up and headed off to work, just like every morning. After we made breakfast and ate, we got straight to doing maintenance on all the trucks. Around noon Bella pulled in the fire house in her beautiful new car. She used to drive one of my dad’s old trucks but before she moved off to college her mom and dad got her a brand new BMW. Renee had used her inheritance she got when her dad died. Bella’s car was black and perfect for her, at least it was a safe car.

She got out of her car holding a brown paper bag and I knew exactly what it was - Chinese take out. I was just glad she didn’t bring left over’s, I was already burnt out on turkey. I could only take turkey once in awhile, not like two or three days in a row.

When she got over to me she placed the bag in my hands and I could smell the wonderful aroma of Chinese food coming through the bag. We had a great time talking and eating our lunch, and all too soon, it was time for her to head back home. I didn’t want her to go but she said she had to help her mom with something. So I told her bye and that we would talk soon. I watched her pull away in that black car of hers speeding down the road.

Little did I know that soon I would see Bella in the arms of another man. A man I didn’t really care for, but she would be damaged…changed forever. One day would change her, one event in her journey in life would forever imprint itself inside her.




*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Two days later, Harry asked if I could trade my day shift the next day and take a night sift for Garret Lesmen, he had a party to go to and couldn’t work. I was fine with it so I traded. Garret was a good friend of mine so it was no big deal to me.

So the next day I spent on the beach with Bella, just hanging out. She had to work on a paper for College so we spread out a blanket on the sand and sat there with her laptop as she typed away. She wasn’t quiet though, she talked and talked. I could listen to her all day every day though. I smiled and laughed at her crazy friends at college.

Around four o’clock she headed back home and I went home to get ready for work. I got dressed and was heading out the front door when the tones went off for us to back up Forks Fire Department. Backing up Forks Fire hardly ever happened, but when it did, that meant it was something big. At first I didn’t realize what address the dispatcher said, I was already in my car dashing to the fire house. When I pulled in I hit the repeat button on my pager and listened in horror as it said her address. It rang in my ears as I stood there stunned.

Harry’s voice woke me from my small horror induced coma and I ran for my gear getting it on faster then I had ever done before. Jumping in the truck, we set off lights and sirens blaring through out the night sky.

I could see the orange glow way before I could see the house, the other fire truck’s lights also lighting up the night. The flames were blazing high, licking at the roof, people yelling, but the only thing I could see was Bella’s window. I couldn’t look away from it.

Was she still in there? I needed to know where Bella was. Fuck, Jake, find out where she is.

I looked over at the door going into action right away, going over and grabbing an air take and mask and putting it on. I headed towards Bella’s flame engulfed house, but I was too late.

Posted in: Chasing Fire