Stories

Stories

Fire In His Heart

9/13/04

 

I was thirty nine my birthday was soon I was looking forward to it. I was going to turn the big 4, 0, forty wow how the years go by. I had a loving wife and two kids, my son was sixteen and my daughter was eighteen. My daughter was held back a year so this was the year that she was going to graduate. Many things were happening in my life and so my mind was in a jumble.

He was a younger fire fighter in his mid twenties, looking like he could hold his own. He stood about five nine and looked around one hundred and ninety pounds. He had blue eyes and brown hair, he was shy when he first came into the firehouse but now he seamed to be warming up to everyone.

One evening we headed out of the firehouse, there was a fire on west Forty Fourth and Elm. I was an apartment complex, built in the early nineteen forties, it was blazing like a volcano erupting. Bob, John, Shawn, Sarah, Bill, the new kid and I, we all through on our fire pants, boots and jackets.  We jumped on the fire trucks and were on are way.

We arrived at the 10:49 p.m. We jumped out of the fire truck, Shawn, Sarah, Bill, and the new kid manned the hoses, while Bob, John, and I went inside to check for trapped survivors. I felt deep down inside me there was one or more trapped some were in the building.

We hurriedly went up the stairs of the building, being careful at the same time not to end up trapped ourselves. We heard cries from a child on the third floor, I told Bob and John to find the child and to get them out of here. While I kept going up to see if there was anyone else left in the building. I was on the sixth floor when I heard the cries of a young boy and girl, I rushed to the room were the cries came from and saw the children hidden in a closet. They reminded me of my children, how am I going to get these two out of here without loosing one of them.

My path that I had taken to the room was now blocked by debris and fire. I found a window and kicked it out, I waved to Bill to move the ladder from the truck over. It barely reached, I placed the little boy in Sarah’s arms. A big explosion erupted like a volcano, it was right above us, I was scared but did not show it I didn’t want to scare the little girl. How am I know going to get the girl and myself out of this predicament now that we couldn’t see a thing with all the smoke and falling debris.

I turned with the girl in my arms to head back to the path I had taken to the room I knew it was blocked but I had no other choice. I said a simple prayer, “ God if your out there help us through this.” In an instant from the end of my prayer I saw the debris was moving from the doorway, “how can this be,” I asked myself. I saw him, like an angel from above, the new kid stood in front of me. He yelled at me to get out of the building, as quickly as possible. He pointed toward the stairs, I ran as quickly as I could, I looked up I could barely see the new kid in all the smoke. Another big explosion accrued and more debris fell, I saw that the kid was hit with a great amount of the debris but I couldn’t go back I had the little girl in my arms, and the fire was to great.

That day we lost a great kid who became a man in a split moment, he gave up his life so that he could save two lives. I had lived a great life already, he should of lived and I should have been the one to die that day. But I see now that my life had just started with my son graduating high school and my daughter getting married. My family and I along with the rest of the fire house attended his funeral. It was great to see all who attended that day even the parents of the two children that we had saved that day were there.

I finally got the chance to meet a great man, who I also found out his name.

Here Lies:  Danny Seapling.  “The young man that had the fire of love in his heart.”