I’m writing you this time covered in black smudges and smelling like smoke. I’m still not allowed in the building as a “probie”, and today I was supposed to stay in the office…so I wore a skirt. But today after lunch, I pulled back into our parking lot to see something billowing black about a mile away. I bolted inside (as much as one can bolt in a billow-y knee length dress and moccasins) and asked our secretary what was going on. She said she didn’t know, that the crew had just left. I jumped in the car and went off. Who knew working for zoning would give me an advantage? Using back roads through neighborhoods, I arrived shortly after the Ladder did and snuck through a gardening center across the street from the incident. My director saw me and motioned for me to stay put. It was eerily awesome. The structure was a underway condo construction site. Three-level. 15 mph winds and 91 degrees. I got close enough to take pictures of the whole scene and stayed there, blackened pieces of what was to be a home rattling around like leaves from the underworld. They eventually shooed me back to the station to manage the covering company that was dispatched to cover BT1.

 Lesson? I'm so excited to be running with these guys. I know I'm in the right field because I can't imagine being anywhere else when that siren goes off. I trust these men with my life and I love them like a family, and I'm thrilled that they will be training me.

I love my job.