Mid-day in another week of
February chill, Ottawa.
But suddenly it's not ordinary.

Black-seared sky
over Scott Street.
The heart of Hintonburg
turns to Hot Zone.

The streaks are silent symbols
dirtying the clear blue sky
but the ring of firetruck bells
shrills in now from the convoy of three,
rushing in from Preston Street Station.

By suppertime tonight
the media will be busy
keeping citizens informed
of centretown’s inferno,
breaking out not long after
the tragic national story
of the Winnipeg flashover* fire
and their firefighter fatalities.

Hot haste hot haste.
The Hot Zone is Forward Avenue
Units 187 and 213,
Community Living townhomes
built in immediate proximity to
each other and many tenements, ...
and flames can leap so fast....

One neighbour, Jasen Allard,
directly having learned of
smoke spotted in the next building,
rushes door to door, in that apartment complex
hammering to alert the occupants.
He assists two women to exit.

First hero. There would be more.
Ensuring no occupants remain trapped on any floors,
the five firefighters fight their way
through the combustible airspace
until the seconds close in
on an inevitable flashover.They must
find their leaping points.
Some dive through windows,
but the last two have no better options
than to jump
from the third floor
down to concrete.

They are veteran-in-charge
Lieutenant John Chatterton
(duty-bound to be the final one
to remain on the sinking ship)
and rookie Carissa Campbell.
Two heroes, soon rushed to the Hospital.
Lieutenant Chatterton would end up
with multiple injuries
requiring long-term stay and rehabilitation.

The morning after, at the site,
the ladder truck remains
immoveable, until sufficiently thawed.
Investigators find access to the building
impossible, until heaters have more hours
to do their work. Pungent, tainted air haunts the streets.

Homelessness, a sense
of what was lost inside, and
whatever psychological repercussions
prove the worst but minor
effects, compared to the what-could-have beens.
The shuffle to relatives’ homes, or to shelters,
and the disorientation
not knowing if anything would be salvaged,
let alone the fact of having in many cases
escaped in bathrobes and bare feet,
all part of the necessary dance
and the ticket to safety.

On the same newscasts summarizing
the Ottawa fire, its chaos and inconvenience,
comes the coverage of the Winnipeg funerals
for that heroic crew.
Uncanny comparisons are made
of the factors in common to
each catastrophe, and the
common enemy they faced.

Lieutenant Chatterton’s father,
a former firefighter himself,
tells news reporters that this is
his son’s first time injured at work,
and that “he loves his job.”

The February chill eases
and many of us who are able-bodied,
enjoy a walk through our neighbourhoods
in radiant sunshine and fresh air
knowing we can return to cozy homes.
Knowing there are those, professionally
or just as citizens, who have the courage
to follow their convictions
even if this requires thrusting themselves into peril
for the well-being of others.

02/21/2007

Author's Note: draft

*flashover = "the sudden combustion of all combustible materials within an enclosed space, as occurred during yesterday's fire in Ottawa, is one of the most dreaded phenomena for those who fight fires. A flashover can generate temperatures of more than 500 degrees centigrade, and protection gear is not able to protect a firefighter caught in such a blast." - The Ottawa Citizen Newspaper, Feb. 13, 2007. Pg. B2

Posted on 02/21/2007
Copyright © 2025 Maureen Glaude