Back to Back car fires

On Friday afternoon, about 30 mins before I was supposed to take Kate to the movies, we got paged out to a reported car fire behind a building. While driving down the firehouse, I passed the area and saw a 100ft dark tower of smoke, thick enough that I was skeptical if it was a car or if the building had caught fire. When we got on scene, my captain had me grab the nozzle and walk down the dark alley way as he and the new guy stretched the hoselines. Walking to the back of the building I found a Jeep fully involved in fire, the engine, the cab, the tires, everything.

I told one of our new guys to get on the nozzle as we were masking up and waiting for water. As soon as our lines got charged, I decided to sweep him to the left because another company was about to charge their hoseline on it and we were right in their path. Those guys are new and I just didnt want to take that chance. Anyhow, by the time we started flowing water into the truck, my captain had started the saw and I could hear they were having problems cutting the front hood open. Eventually the gas tank melted and a bunch of gasoline poured under the truck and caught fire as well. I had the new guy open up a few short bursts to finish the truck off as my captain finally got the hood open and water into the engine. The truck was a goner - the license plate completely melted away as well as the steering wheel. The heat was also enough to melt the taillights of a nearby car.

A day later, almost the same time of day, we get called out to a car fire on the other side of town. Another company had already been dispatched there, which made me think that either they weren't doing the right thing or didn't have enough guys. Anyhow, as we were pulling up I saw a car with the engine on fire right in front of a few air pumps at a gas station. I casually got out and told 2 guys to stretch a hoseline as I went to get the saw for the hood. I told Brian to sweep around to the street-side of the car because he was standing on the opposite side as the first hose team, which once again woulda been a nightmare if anyone opened up their hoseline.

As I got the saw started, this ex-chief of ours (who now weighs over 250 pounds) decided that today he wanted to play. He barges in and I watch him grab a hoseline from another one of our guys. I walk around to the front of the car and start the circular saw. As i do that, this ex-chief stumbles back and falls down right next to the saw. Thank god the saw stalled out when i released the throttle because it was damn close to his head. He got up and moved so we could finish cutting the front hood open and getting water on the engine. I then walked around and popped the trunk to make sure there was nothing harmful.

The ex-chief had to get taken away to the hospital where they said he had micro-tears in his heel. He's too big for his own good and I keep highlighting the fact that if he goes down like that in a house fire, it's gonna take about 5 guys to get him out.