another fire call

At 2:30 yesterday afternoon I was paged to a structure fire about 5 miles away. I grabbed my gear and drove to the fire station. I arrived just as two firemen were pulling away in a truck. They motioned for me to get the other truck. I raised the vertical door and started to get into the truck and the door came down. I repeated that several times until the door finally stayed up. (It was beginning to resemble an episode from the Keystone Cops) By that time another firefighter arrived; I let him drive. When we arrived at the fire the back of the house was fully involved in flames. Eight fire trucks responded from three communities. I took a turn with a hose until I was relieved. I kept the hoses pulled around so the hose man didn't have to expend too much energy pulling the hose himself. It's a real work out just to move around in those fire suits. We kept the fire contained but just couldn't suppress it totally. We were still on the scene at 7:00 when Dorothy showed up with sandwiches, coffee, and bottled water. That was a lifesaver. I finally got home at 9:15. I'm exhausted today, not only from the exertion, but probably from the presence of carbon monoxide in the blood. I hung my suit on the fence to wash it, not only because it was dirty, but I had left the pants on the porch over night and the cats peed on it.