ARSON: Part 1
by Charli 911
Disclaimer: Emergency!" and its characters belong to © Mark VII Productions, Inc. All rights
reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction, and any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. I do not own the men and women of Emergency! and only use them here for the purposes of entertainment. No money is made and I hope the creators, writers and actors appreciate that they're creation still resonates with fans after all these years.
Originally archived at Two Chickies.
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CHAPTER 1
It was a warehouse...an old, empty, abandoned warehouse. And it was on fire. The building was fully engulfed when the engine and squad pulled into the parking lot. It was a large building—just one story, but stretching nearly the entire length of a city block.
Engine 51 was the first on scene, and when they pulled up Captain Hank Stanley could see that they were going to need a lot of help with this one. He gave his men instructions and then contacted dispatch.
"L.A., Engine 51"
"Go ahead, 51"
"L.A., I want a 3rd alarm on this incident, and we'll need the Chief on scene."
"10-4, Engine 51"
Stanley hung the radio mic back on its holder and started to exit the vehicle, his men already pulling hose from the back of the engine.
"Engine 51, Engine 39"
Stanley pulled his portable radio from his pocket and responded.
"Engine 39, this is 51"
"Where do you want us, Hank?" asked Captain Freeman.
"Take the north end, Wes. When 82 gets here, I'll have him hook up with you and 18 can help on our end."
"10-4"
Stanley turned to find his men already headed toward the fire, dragging hoses. Chet Kelly and Marco Lopez had one, and John Gage and his paramedic partner, Roy DeSoto, were manning the other. Mike Stoker was hooking the lines up to the fire hydrants, ready to charge the lines as soon as the guys gave the signal, which they did just a moment later.
Water began flowing through the fire hoses and the men aimed it at the walls and roof of the building. When Engines 82 and 18 arrived, along with the rescue squads from those two stations, it gave them twenty-five men battling this blaze. The flames reached upwards into the night sky, turning the darkness into a wall of red and yellow. The fire reached up 200 feet above the building. And they didn't seem to making a dent in it.
They were pouring hundreds of gallons of water onto the fire, but couldn't seem to knock it down. The Battalion Chief had arrived on scene, speaking with Stanley. He decided to call in another alarm. They needed more manpower. It looked as if they would be here awhile, and these men would need relief before long.
The Chief also requested an arson investigator be dispatched to the scene. Judging by the intensity of the fire, and their inability to knock it down, he felt the likelihood that it was arson was high. There had been two other warehouse fires in the last week that had reacted the same way, and the investigators were calling it arson. This one smacked of the same.
By the time the arson investigator arrived on scene, there were more than fifty firefighters struggling with the flames. They seemed to finally be making some headway against this fire, but it would still be several hours before they could call it extinguished…. if they were lucky.
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The men were packing up the hoses. It had taken over six hours to contain the blaze, and the last hot spots were in the process of being wetted down. The arson investigator was already checking out the building, along with the Chief and Stanley.
They found the pail just inside the back door. The investigator pointed it out to the others. After the last two suspicious fires, the arson team had found similar pails, three in each building. The investigator, Jack Marten, figured he would find them here as well. And he was right. They checked near the doors at the north and south ends of the building and found similar pails. Tests on the pails found at the other fires showed that they had held what had probably been the mixture used to start the blaze. They were still trying to determine the exact formula, but at least now they knew they were looking for the same arsonist.
But that knowledge didn't exactly make them jump for joy. Now they had to determine whether they were dealing with a serial arsonist, who was just in it for the pleasure of watching something burn. Or, were they searching for someone in it for the money. The backgrounds of the two previous building owners were being thoroughly researched, and this building's owner would go through the same detailed investigation.
For now, the fire was out, and the arson investigators would do any follow up. The firefighters headed back to quarters to clean up and get some sleep.
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Two days later, the men of Station 51's A shift were back at work. There had been another warehouse fire the day before, this one in an old shoe factory. But there had been a difference in this fire. Someone had died.
They found the body in a second floor bathroom. The man appeared to be a transient. He had probably entered the building because it afforded a dry place to sleep, since it had been raining that night. But instead of finding a bed, he found a coffin. The medical examiner's office was still trying to identify him, since he'd carried no wallet.
So it wasn't just arson, anymore. Now, the charge would be murder-when they found the person responsible. The firemen who had been battling these fires were starting to take it personally. The investigators were getting closer to finding their man, but it would take time. Time no one knew if they had. The arsonist had killed now. Burning another building would mean nothing to him. Everyone hoped he would be found before that happened.
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Gage entered the station, looking around for Roy. As he entered the kitchen, he saw the arson investigator go into the Captain's office.
"What's Marten doing here, Roy?" he asked his partner.
"I don't know. He just asked where the Cap was and I told him to check the office. I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Johnny agreed. "How's the coffee?"
"It's good. I made it myself."
"I think I'll have a cup, anyway," joked Gage.
The rest of the A shift came in, getting ready for their next twenty-four hours on duty. They had just had a long four days off, so everybody was well rested and ready to get to work. They saw Marten walk back to his car, and then Captain Stanley joined them for coffee. He didn't say much as he filled his cup, and the men all waited, not very patiently, for him to let them in on what was going on.
Finally, Gage couldn't take it anymore.
"So, Cap, what's the latest on the arson investigation?" he asked.
Stanley turned to look at them, with a worried expression on his face. For a moment he didn't say anything, which made his men all the more aware that something was up. Stanley took a sip, then walked to the table and took a seat. He looked around the room as his crew. He was proud of this crew. It was the best he had ever worked with.
The Captain took a deep breath, then let it out in a sigh.
"Marten thinks he's been able to figure out who the arsonist is."
The men looked at each other when the Captain didn't continue. The silence was becoming uncomfortably long.
"Cap," began DeSoto, "who is it? What did Marten say that has you so worried?"
Instead of answering, Stanley looked over at Chet. After a moment, Kelly began to get antsy. He didn't like his Captain staring at him. It made him think he must have done something wrong, but it didn't remember anything.
"Kelly, you worked at 39's for a couple years, didn't you?" Stanley suddenly asked.
"Yeah, Cap, I did. Three years. Why?"
"Were you there when Jacobs died?"
Kelly hesitated. Mark Jacobs had been a good fireman, one of the best at the station, and Kelly's first friend at Station 39. 'Jake', as everybody called him, had made a point of introducing Chet to everybody on the shift, and went out of his way to see that Chet felt welcome.
"Yeah, Cap, I was there. What does that have to do with these fires? That was six or seven years ago."
"Marten thinks it's the same arsonist."
"No!" cried Kelly. "Cap, that's not possible. He died in the same fire that killed Jacobs!"
Stanley shook his head. "That's what was thought at the time. But Marten says that they're beginning to believe that maybe it wasn't him, after all. These latest arson fires have his signature on them. And he's been in contact with Marten."
This last information stunned everyone. Stanley again looked at the faces of his men. He knew this would be hard for them to take. Especially Chet Kelly. He had known the firefighter that died had been his friend. Knowing that the man that killed Jacobs was still out there wouldn't be easy. Knowing that he was still setting fires….
"No, no, no, no," muttered Kelly. "He's dead. He died. No, Cap, it can't be the same guy."
"I'm sorry, Chet," Stanley assured him, "but Marten is pretty sure it is him."
The others were just a shocked as Kelly. Although none of them had known Jacobs, he was still a fellow fireman. Anytime a firefighter died, it made you think about your own mortality. Each of them knew it could have been them.
And might be next time.
The men gathered around Kelly, lending support, making sure he understood that they were his friends, and would be there if he needed to talk. They had all lost friends in fires. But not like this, not at the hands of an arsonist.
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