Just pray Warning... Read at your own risk.

The tones drop.  Across the radio comes, "Structure fire...  With exposure problems...  Possible entrapment..."  As we pulled up on the scene I see flames at least 20 feet in the air.  I hear Incident Command warning, "Boys stay away from those lines!  They're popping everywhere."  I can feel the heat from not 1 but 2 houses.  A man helplessly cries as his child is still in the house.  We fight every urge to go in but know there's no hope.  We battle the blaze just as hard as ever.  There really is nothing we can do.  Yes we risk our lives but if we're not alive ourselves then how can we help the entrapped?  So still, we fight and fight knowing the outcome will be grim.
The fire is knocked down...  We begin the overhaul phase.  Starting with the back of the house working forward we check the area for "hotspots."  Then the captain asks me to follow him to help him see because I have a flashlight.  Someone asks if anyone knows where he is?  In the distance I hear, "In the front bedroom."  The captain sifts through the ashes and rubble.  And then I hear those dreaded words...  "Command I've located the victim." 
As I hear these words a million sensations and feelings flood into my heart and body.  A punch in the gut.  I want to vomit.  I want to cry.  I want to be angry.  I want to fall to my knees and sob.  I want to do it all over again.  Hoping for a better outcome.  The scene plays in my head a million times over.  Searching for a spared life. But the outcome is the same every time.  I rest assured that the entire crew did everything they could, but still no peace. 
I called my wife to ask that she have every person she knows to pray.  Pray for the child.  Pray for the family.  Pray for the neighbors and everyone that knew this child.  Pray for the firemen, EMS and police on scene.  That's the only relief I know.  Just pray...

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