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  Vicky headed up the stairs. The three firefighters followed behind her in single file. Jones was carrying the hose.

  The visibility was no worse as she climbed, it was easy enough to see ahead, though when she reached the second-floor corridor there was smoke feathering from under some of the doors.

  ‘Crew now on the second floor and heading up,’ she said into her radio.

  ‘Vicky, have you seen this?’ It was Jones, at the rear. Vicky turned around. The stairwell behind them was filling with smoke.

  ‘We’ve got smoke coming up behind us, what’s going on down there?’ Vicky asked over the radio.

  ‘They’re still attacking the fire in the bar,’ said Potter. ‘Should be under control soon. I’m not seeing much smoke in reception.’

  ‘Well, there’s smoke here,’ said Vicky. ‘A lot of it.’

  Vicky stared at the thickening smoke for several seconds, then continued up the stairs. Most of the corridor’s ceiling was obscured in smoke and she couldn’t see much beyond the fourth door. She looked behind her and grey smoke was billowing up the stairs.

  ‘Crew now on the third floor. Heading up to the fourth now.’

  ‘Be careful,’ said Potter.

  ‘The smoke is getting worse. What’s it like on the ground floor?’

  ‘There’s smoke but not much,’ said Potter.

  Vicky turned to check that Noller, Jones and Beech were ready to go but frowned when she saw how thick the smoke was behind them. ‘Let’s go,’ she said.

  She walked up slowly, taking it one stair at a time, until she reached the top floor. The smoke was slightly thicker than it had been on the third floor, and she could only see as far as the second door.

  The rooms at the back of the hotel were to her left and she headed across the corridor and stood in front of the first door. She touched it with the back of her glove and when she was satisfied that the wood wasn’t hot, she turned the handle and pushed it open slowly. The smoke was thicker in the room than it was in the corridor, which suggested it was coming up through the floor. There was no furniture and there were marks on the walls, which suggested that fitted cupboards had been ripped out. As in the corridor there were no carpets or floor coverings, just bare boards. She stepped to the side and motioned for Noller to check the room. He did a quick walk around, then looked into the bathroom. ‘All clear,’ he said.

  She held the door open for him as he came back into the corridor, then she pulled it closed.

  The second room was also empty, as was the bathroom, though there were two sleeping bags on the floor and a collection of empty pizza boxes.

  Vicky went over to the window and looked down at the back alley behind the hotel. Two firefighters were dragging a hose along the ground to the rear of the building.

  ‘Vicky, how’s it going in there?’ Abbey’s voice crackled in her earpiece.

  ‘No joy so far, sir,’ said Vicky. ‘We’ve cleared two of the rooms. I’m just looking out of the window. I see a line at the back.’

  ‘That’s from the Soho pump. The fire’s still burning so be quick.’

  ‘Will do, sir.’ She headed back on to the corridor. The smoke had grown thicker and Noller, Beech and Jones were crouching by the wall. Noller had his hand against Beech’s back. Beech was holding the branch with both hands but there was no fire source to douse with water.

  Vicky motioned for Noller to do the third room He opened the door and almost immediately a ball of flames billowed out, sending them all staggering back. Noller hit the door on the other side of the hallway and pushed against it to regain his balance.

  Vicky gritted her teeth, Noller should have checked the door for heat before opening it. It was a rookie mistake, but even through his mask she could see from the look in his eyes that he knew what he’d done so she let it go. She looked through the doorway. Most of the floor was alight and flames were licking around the floor. A thick layer of combustible gases covered the ceiling and was inching closer to the floor, rippling like a living thing. She was about to yell at Beech to turn on the water but he beat her to it and yanked the branch lever to send a water jet spraying high into the room. He aimed high and started a pulsing jet, aiming at the combustible gases at the top of the room. It wasn’t the burning fixtures that were the danger – it was the gases. If they were to catch fire the whole room would ignite. The short pulses of water dissipated the gases quickly and efficiently. Once he was satisfied they had been neutralised he aimed a steady jet at the burning wood. The fire was soon extinguished though the steam produced decreased the visibility markedly.

  ‘Sir, we’ve got fire up here in one of the bedrooms,’ said Vicky. ‘We need another line up here asap.’

  ‘I’m on it,’ said Abbey. ‘How bad is it?’

  ‘It’s under control,’ she said.

  ‘You need to get out of there, Vicky!’

  ‘We’ve still got rooms to clear, guv.’

  ‘I understand that, but I don’t want your team at risk,’ said Abbey.

  ‘The fire is confined to the one room at the moment,’ said Vicky. ‘There’s only smoke in the corridor.’

  Abbey paused for a few seconds before speaking. ‘It’s your call, Vicky. Just be careful.’

  ‘Will do.’ She went over to Noller. ‘Are you okay, Colin?’

  He nodded. ‘Just caught me by surprise, that’s all.’

  ‘The fire must have come from downstairs,’ she said. ‘These old places are all wood, pretty much.’

  Flames flared up again by the bathroom and Vicky moved behind Beech as he continued to douse the room with water. When all the flames were out, Vicky stepped inside. Like the previous rooms there was no furniture but through the smoke and steam she saw an old suitcase and a nylon kitbag against one wall, next to a rolled-up sleeping bag that had been singed by the fire. The floor to her right was ablaze as if the fire had come up from the floor below and the curtains were burning. She hurried over to the bathroom, confirmed that there was nobody there and went back into the corridor, pulling the door closed behind her. The smoke was thicker now and her three colleagues had gone down on their knees where the visibility was slightly better.

  ‘Everyone okay?’ she asked.

  They all flashed her ‘okay’ signs.

  ‘The smoke’s getting worse, that’s for sure,’ said Jones.

  ‘Let’s press on,’ said Vicky.

  She bent down and peered through the smoke but couldn’t see more than a few feet. She shuffled forward, running her right hand against the wall as she worked her way along to the next door, holding her left hand out in front of her. She placed the back of her hand against the door to see how hot it was. They were taught the back-of-the-hand technique in training. Generally, it was more sensitive to heat than the palm, but it was also to reduce the risk of electrocution if they touched a live wire or electrical source. With a palm-forward approach, there was a danger that the hand would contract around the electrical source. By using the back of the hand, any contraction would be away from the danger. The door was only warm to the touch so she grabbed the handle and opened it slowly. The room was thick with smoke but she didn’t see any flames so she pushed the door wider. Almost immediately she saw the man on the floor. ‘Casualty!’ she shouted. She hurried across the floor and knelt down. The man was lying on a bare mattress. Next to him was a canvas kitbag full of clothes and a stack of copies of the Big Issue magazine. Vicky put a gloved hand on the man’s chest. He was still breathing. ‘Colin, Gary, over here!’ Noller and Jones hurried over. ‘You guys get him downstairs, asap.’ She held out her hand to Noller. ‘Let me have the camera.’

  Noller unclipped the thermal-imaging camera from his tunic and gave it to Vicky, then the two firefighters grabbed the man and between them carried him to the door.

  ‘We have a confirmed casualty, probable smoke inhalation, but still alive,’ said Vicky into her radio. ‘Colin and Gary are bringing him down now.’

  ‘Vicky, we’ve go
t fire on the first floor now,’ said Abbey over the radio. ‘The line I sent in is dealing with that so he can’t get up to you. You need to come on out now.’

  ‘Colin and Gary are on their way down with the casualty,’ said Vicky. ‘Can you send someone up to meet them?’

  ‘Will do,’ said Abbey. ‘But I want you out of there now.’

  ‘We’ve just a few more rooms to clear,’ said Vicky.

  ‘How bad is it in there?’

  ‘Visibility isn’t good but other than the one room on fire, it’s only smoke.’

  ‘How many more rooms have you to check?’

  ‘Two at the rear. That’s where I was told they were sleeping. We haven’t checked the rooms at the front.’

  ‘Just do the two and then get out of there,’ said Abbey.

  ‘Will do,’ said Vicky. She nodded at Beech and pointed at the door, then headed out. The smoke was much thicker now and she had to crawl on all fours to see ahead of her. She held the thermal-imaging camera in her left hand and looked at the screen but there were no signs of any heat signatures on the floor or walls below the smoke. Noller and Jones were heading down the corridor towards the stairs, holding the casualty between them, the beams of the torches on their tunics lancing through the smoke.

  Vicky scurried along to the next door, then sat back on her heels and tested it for heat. It wasn’t especially hot so she slowly turned the handle and pushed. The door wouldn’t move and she realised it was locked from the inside. She stood up and hit it with her shoulder. Beech joined her and together they threw their weight against the door. The jamb splintered on the second attempt and the third time they hit it the door collapsed inward and crashed to the ground. The smoke was as thick as it was in the corridor and the floorboards to their left were smouldering.

  Vicky moved to the side to allow Beech to play pulses of water around the ceiling before spraying the walls. The water hissed and steamed and clouds of thick grey smoke billowed over their heads. When she was sure that any fire had been extinguished she shouted for Beech to shut off the water, then she dropped down on all fours and crept forward. Beech dropped the hose and followed her. Vicky used the hand-held camera to check the room. Her heart pounded when she saw a greenish blur on the floor. A body. ‘Casualty!’ she shouted.

  Beech crawled over to her and they both grabbed at the body. It was a man. Unconscious. As Vicky reached out to him, flames erupted up through the floor by the window, so hot that she felt the heat through her mask.

  ‘Let’s get him out of here,’ said Vicky. ‘We have another casualty,’ she said into the radio. ‘We’re coming out now.’

  Vicky grabbed the man’s legs and Beech put his hands under the man’s arms. They stayed on their knees and dragged him out into the corridor. Vicky pulled the door closed.

  ‘Vicky?’ It was Abbey.

  ‘Yes, guv. We’re on our way down.’

  ‘There’s a man in the far corner of the building at the front. He’s just broken a window. Our ladder isn’t long enough.’

  ‘I’ll go.’

  ‘What’s it like up there?’

  ‘It’s okay. I’ll send Mark down with the casualty and I’ll check the corner room.’

  ‘That’s a negative, Vicky,’ said Abbey. ‘You’re not to go solo. BA teams stay together, you know that.’

  ‘You’re breaking up,’ said Vicky.

  ‘Don’t fuck around, Vicky. Get down here now.’

  Vicky clapped Beech on the shoulder. ‘Can you manage him on your own, Mark?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Beech. ‘But it’s not standard procedure, you know that.’

  ‘There’s a man trapped in there. If we both go down now, he’ll die.’

  ‘Then I’ll stay with you.’

  She pointed at the casualty. ‘If you don’t get him down now, the smoke will kill him.’ Even through the mask she could see the confusion on Beech’s face and she patted him on the shoulder. ‘You start down. I’ll catch you up. I won’t be more than a couple of minutes. I’ll be right behind you.’

  Beech nodded reluctantly. He grabbed the man by the arms and pulled. The man was heavy but he could manage. The BA equipment meant he couldn’t use the traditional fireman’s lift so he dragged the man down the corridor, keeping as low as he could to avoid the worst of the smoke.

  Vicky turned to look back down the corridor. The smoke was now halfway down the walls. She got down on her hands and knees, picked up the branch with her left hand and moved along the corridor, pulling the hose behind her. The corridor was in darkness but the torch fastened to her tunic illuminated the corridor ahead of her.

  ‘Vicky, I’m ordering you to come down now,’ said Abbey over her radio as she reached the door. She checked it with the back of her hand. It was warm, but not hot, so she grabbed the handle and turned it, then pushed the door open. That was when she heard the man shouting in between fits of coughing. The room was thick with smoke but there didn’t seem to be any flames. There was a yellowish patch among the smoke. The window, she realised, and the street lights beyond it. She walked towards the light, holding her hands out in front of her. As she got closer she made out a dark figure. ‘Help me! Help me!’ he shouted, then doubled over, coughing.

  Vicky hurried over to him. The window was open and smoke was pouring out. The man’s idea had been to lean out of the window and breathe fresh air but there was just too much smoke. ‘Stay down!’ she shouted at him. ‘Keep your face as close to the floor as you can.’ She dropped the hose and pushed him down to the floor. ‘Stay there, and try to stay calm!’

  She stood up and leaned out of the window. She looked down at the street below and saw Abbey standing on the pavement by his pump ladder. She waved and flashed him a thumbs-up. A few feet away from Abbey was a yellow and green ambulance with two paramedics standing at the rear doors. ‘I’ve got him,’ she said.

  ‘Is Mark okay?’ asked Abbey.

  ‘He’s on the way down with the other casualty,’ she said.

  ‘Get out of there now, Vicky,’ he said.

  ‘On my way.’

  ‘How are you for air?’

  She looked at her gauge. It was showing 160, which meant she was eating into her safety margin. But she would be going straight down whereas outbound she had stopped off at several rooms. ‘I’m good.’

  ‘Come on, then. I’ll send a BA team up to meet you.’

  ‘On my way.’

  She crouched down and shook the man on the floor. ‘Come on, sir, it’s time to go!’ she shouted. He didn’t react. She shook him again but he’d clearly passed out. She was going to have to carry him out. He wasn’t big, five feet eight maybe, and probably didn’t weigh much more than 180 pounds, but Vicky was tired and her energy reserves were low. She gritted her teeth, bent her knees and grabbed his arms. She grunted as she pulled him along the corridor.

  She leant back as she pulled, trying to let her legs do most of the work, but it was tiring and she was soon gasping for breath, which meant she would be getting through her air at a much faster rate than normal.

  The smoke was much thicker now but she could see that the door to her right was ablaze, though all she could make out was a red and orange glow through the smoke. She kept count of the doors she passed. When she reached the final door she slowed and carefully slid each foot backwards, feeling for the stairs. Left. Right. Left. Then there was only air. She pulled the casualty as she went back down the stairs, taking care not to bang his head. Visibility was now close to zero, it was as if her mask had been painted grey. The beam of her torch only penetrated the smoke for a couple of feet then faded out. The lack of vision meant she was more aware of the sounds around her. The static of the radio, her laboured breathing, the crackle of burning wood. Her heart was pounding and she made a conscious effort to try to breathe slowly.

  She went down the stairs one at time and it seemed an age before she reached the third-floor landing. She looked down the corridor but couldn’t see more than a few in
ches. There was no red glow of fire, though, which was a good sign.

  She continued down the stairs. Every muscle in her body was aching and her spine was in agony. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to ignore the pain as she pulled the man with her. ‘Heading to the second floor now,’ she said.

  ‘Good girl,’ said Abbey.

  ‘That’s sexist, guv,’ she grunted, and she heard him chuckle.

  ‘Colin and Gary are down and the paramedics are dealing with their casualty,’ said Abbey.

  ‘What about Mark?’

  ‘No sign yet. But I have the emergency team in already. You should see them on the way down.’

  ‘No problem,’ she said. ‘Two more floors and I’m there.’ As Vicky stepped into the second-floor hallway a wall of heat stopped her in her tracks. Most of the floor ahead of her was burning and flames were licking up the walls. She crouched down, panting for breath.

  ‘I’ve got a problem on the second floor,’ she said.

  ‘What’s happening, Vicky?’

  ‘The floor’s burning. The stairs are alight. Can you get a line up?’

  ‘We’ve got a line working up to the first floor but it’s taking time.’

  ‘Shit,’ said Vicky.

  One of the bedroom doors collapsed inwards and the rush of air fed the flames. She ducked down as fire flared up to the ceiling and flashed in her direction. She could feel the heat through her tunic and leggings.

  ‘Can you get through?’ asked Abbey.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Vicky, trying not to sound as worried as she felt.

  ‘You’ve still got the casualty?’

  ‘Yes, guv.’

  ‘Can you get to a second-floor window? We can get a ladder to you.’

  Vicky looked at the wall of flames ahead of her. The only way to the second-floor corridor was to go through the fire, and even if she could get through there was no guarantee that the corridor wasn’t also burning. ‘That’s not an option,’ she said.

  ‘What about getting to a window on the third floor? We can reach the third floor, just about.’