Fireman: Vantage Point

Linus Gelber

Ladder Company #9 responds to a call on St. Marks Place at First Avenue. I am on my way to a burlesque show a few blocks up, and stop to watch the response. There's a smell of smoke in the air.

There doesn't seem to be any actual fire, but the response is full and ready - that smell of smoke has the whole street curious. The firemen raise the ladder and break a few top-floor windows. The company goes in both through the apartment side and through the window, and when I leave some time later they are still in the apartment, taking out the broken windows and presumably dealing with whatever was making the smoke.