Chapter 025: Limit (4)
The chief of Dobong Fire Station avoided Yoon-hee and returned to his office.
His reaction only made Yoon-hee and Photographer Jang even more curious.
"I really want to know what happened."
Jang answered,
"Look into it later."
"There should be records of something like that."
"Yes."
"I'll do that."
When they returned to the rescue team office, Captain Gu was already trying on the new equipment.
"It fits perfectly."
"Of course it does."
"We measured everyone before making it."
Designers from Suseong Apparel, a subsidiary of Suseong Corporation, had personally come to the fire station and taken measurements for every team member.
The equipment had been manufactured using the exact same process as the gear Hee-soo wore.
"How much does one of these cost?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"I was thinking about selling it secondhand."
"The manufacturing cost alone is around eighty million won per suit."
"And it'll be extremely uncomfortable if someone else wears it."
"The equipment is individually authenticated too."
Captain Gu's mouth fell open.
"Seriously?"
"Of course."
"Why would I lie about something like that?"
"That's only the suit."
"The face mask costs around thirty million won."
Captain Gu immediately put on the face mask.
As he fitted it over his face, small motors automatically adjusted the tension.
The mask sealed tightly against his skin.
Once a complete seal was established, a green indicator appeared on the display.
"Oh!"
"This is amazing!"
His heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation appeared on the display.
"Huh?"
"What's this?"
"It even shows oxygen saturation?"
"Yes."
"It uses that information to detect danger."
"If your oxygen saturation falls below a certain level, it automatically alerts the other team members."
"You don't need to use a separate face mask either."
"Does it measure oxygen-tank pressure too?"
"Yes."
"The moment you connect an oxygen tank, it starts measuring automatically."
Captain Gu picked up the helmet.
"Is this really practical?"
The helmet was enclosed like a spacecraft helmet.
The front had an opening shaped to connect directly with the face mask.
The helmet connected to the protective suit and sealed the neck and face-mask connection.
Seeing how it worked, Captain Gu was amazed.
"Wow."
"It can do all this?"
"The weakest point when entering a fire is the connection between the head and the body."
"So we focused heavily on protecting that area."
"When used together with the face mask, it completely seals the wearer from the outside environment."
"Do the boots and gloves work the same way?"
"Of course."
"The upper and lower parts of the suit were also designed around the same concept."
"Haah."
"So how much does the full set cost?"
"About one hundred and ten million won?"
"That's only the direct production cost."
"It's roughly the price of one Kentz."
Captain Gu shook his head.
"There's no way this could be widely issued in South Korea."
"Even the current protective suits cost around five or six million won each."
"And they still hesitate before buying those."
While the two were talking, the other firefighters entered.
Everyone crowded around Captain Gu's new equipment.
"How is it?"
"Good?"
"It feels fine here."
"But we'll only know if it's really good once we enter an actual scene."
"There are a lot of new functions, so everyone should wear their own set now and get used to it."
"The full set costs about the same as one Kentz."
"Kentz?"
Hee-soo added,
"A Kentz E-Class."
"W-wait."
"Then this costs over a hundred million won?"
"Roughly."
Everyone's mouths fell open.
Even the deputy captain couldn't hide his amazement.
"Forget the price."
"You made all this in only about two weeks?"
"Ah."
"We already had most of the preparation finished."
"It wasn't made from nothing that quickly."
"We already had something close to a mass-production system."
Only Captain Gu, who had already heard the explanation, nodded.
Every firefighter who tried the equipment was impressed.
While they were still fitting and testing the gear, the dispatch alarm rang.
"Fire dispatch. Fire dispatch."
Everyone immediately rushed toward the rescue vehicle while still wearing the protective suits.
"Oh!"
"It's light even when running."
"The mobility is really good."
"We're putting it into real combat the moment we receive it?"
Inside the rescue vehicle, Hee-soo spoke.
"The current radio channel is Channel 5."
"If you can't hear the radio, simply say, 'Channel 5.'"
Information about the incident came through.
Tension filled the vehicle.
"A fire has broken out inside a window-frame assembly facility at a welfare center for people with disabilities."
"The building has seven floors."
"The fire began on the second floor and is approaching full development."
"Nearby suppression teams arrived first."
"However, the fire inside the second-floor aluminum-material storage area is extremely intense and cannot currently be controlled."
"All able-bodied civilians appear to have escaped."
"However, several people inside the disability facility on the fifth floor are believed to have failed to evacuate."
"Two suppression teams are currently on scene and conducting fire suppression."
Captain Gu looked toward Hee-soo.
"Can we enter direct flames while wearing these?"
"That's what they were made for."
"Where are the victims?"
"We'll know when we arrive."
"All right."
"Once we're there, Deputy Captain Park and Jae-sik will form a team around Hee-soo and rescue the victims."
"I'll take the others and search downward from the seventh floor."
"We'll adjust the rest after reaching the scene."
"Yes!"
The second and third floors were already covered in flames.
The temperature of the flames pouring through the windows appeared on their face-mask displays.
The reading was approaching two thousand degrees.
Hee-soo shook his head.
"We don't have much time."
"At those temperatures, even the strength of the concrete could be affected."
The flames were so intense that white fire could be seen pouring from the windows.
"At that temperature, the third floor is basically an oven."
"Not an oven."
"It's a furnace."
"Hot enough to melt metal."
The moment Hee-soo got out of the vehicle, the victims' positions appeared on his display.
"Let's enter immediately."
"Three people are inside the elevator around the fourth floor."
"Two are in the fifth-floor restroom."
"Eight are inside the office farther in."
"There is nobody else on the remaining floors who currently needs rescue."
"Either they escaped, or they're already dead."
Captain Gu immediately reacted.
"Then we don't even have time to search the seventh floor."
"Not with this number of people."
"Then I'll search by myself."
"Everyone else, focus on rescuing the victims on the fourth and fifth floors."
"Yes!"
There wasn't even time to wonder how Hee-soo had reached that conclusion.
Rescue Team 3 immediately moved according to his briefing.
At the same time, the victim locations appeared on the displays of the other rescue team members.
"Hey!"
"It shows the locations too?"
"Can it tell where we are?"
"Not yet."
"Accurately determining our own positions is still difficult."
"Doesn't matter."
"I know where I am."
"This alone is incredible!"
The moment the chief of Dobong Fire Station saw them running toward the burning building without support from the suppression team, his eyes widened.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"WAIT FOR THE SUPPRESSION TEAM!"
Captain Gu answered casually.
"We're not here to bring out roasted people."
"We need to bring them out alive."
"We're entering the fourth and fifth floors."
"There may be more than ten people requiring rescue."
"Call additional personnel and secure our escape route."
"We'll leave through the emergency stairwell."
"It's a metal fire!"
"The temperature is extremely high."
"It could breach the fire doors very quickly."
"If that happens, even the emergency stairwell could become dangerous."
"We'll have everyone out before then."
"How do you even know where they are?"
"We'll have to find them."
Trying to stop them was useless.
Dobong Fire Station's Rescue Team 3 quickly disappeared into the flames.
Yoon-hee arrived at the scene just as the rescue team was entering the blazing red entrance.
Rescue Team 3 was already disappearing through the doorway where flames were pouring out.
Photographer Jang hurriedly raised his camera and captured the sight.
Yoon-hee's eyes widened.
"Do rescue firefighters normally enter places where flames are burning like that?"
The suppression team arriving behind them answered the question with their bodies.
The intense flames prevented them from even approaching the entrance.
They had to begin spraying water from more than ten meters away.
The heat could be felt even from where Yoon-hee and Photographer Jang were standing.
The fire chief felt as though his insides were burning.
Yoon-hee and Jang could only stare ominously at the flames that had swallowed Hee-soo and Rescue Team 3.
After bringing the fire around the entrance partially under control, the suppression team immediately focused on securing the emergency stairwell and retreat routes from the fourth and fifth floors.
More suppression teams from Dobong Fire Station continued arriving.
"Suppression Team 2 and Dobong Center, secure the escape route."
"Changdong and Ssangmun Centers, focus on the main fire."
"Suppression Team 2's pumper, Dobong Center's pumper, and the chemical truck will also focus on attacking the main fire!"
Under the chief's orders, the organization rapidly reorganized itself to support the rescue operation.
The two firefighters who entered with Hee-soo followed him toward the elevator where the victims were located.
The elevator doors were closed.
Jae-sik reached for a key.
Before he could use it, Hee-soo had already forced the elevator doors open with a crowbar.
"Hey!"
"If you do that, you'll break it!"
"There's already a fire."
"That elevator is useless now."
"And if anyone files a lawsuit, they'll have to fight me."
"Whoever they are."
Encouraged by Hee-soo's confidence, the deputy captain spoke.
"Then we'll stop worrying about property damage and focus on rescue."
"Hurry."
"We don't have time."
The moment they forced the doors apart, smoke and hot air poured out.
The elevator had stopped between the fourth and fifth floors.
The shaft had already become a chimney.
Everyone inside had inhaled smoke and been exposed to the heat.
Their consciousness was fading.
Hee-soo immediately contacted the rescue team on the fifth floor.
"We need one person at the elevator."
"I opened the doors."
"The car is stopped between the fourth and fifth floors."
"Entering from the fourth floor isn't practical."
"We can't spare anyone here either."
"We found all the victims."
"We don't have enough people."
"If we're even a little late, the people inside this elevator will be roasted or steamed alive."
"The elevator shaft has become a chimney."
"The temperature is too high."
"And I can already see fire below the elevator."
"Understood."
"But we don't have the elevator key."
"I'll take responsibility."
"Force the doors open."
"They're easy to break."
"Hey!"
"What if someone complains?"
"I'll handle every complaint."
"Okay."
"We're trusting you."
Not long afterward, the fifth-floor elevator doors were forced open.
One rescue team member climbed inside.
"Hey."
"It doesn't even feel that hot in here."
"Don't trust how it feels."
"Look at the temperature on your display."
The inside of the elevator was already approaching one hundred degrees Celsius.
"Huh?"
"It's this hot?"
"It's still rising."
"We need to get them out quickly."
"The third-floor elevator doors are blocking most of the heat right now."
"If those doors melt or collapse and the shaft fully opens, this area could jump to three hundred or four hundred degrees immediately."
"That's literally oven temperature."
He was right.
"Wow."
"We need to be careful."
"I didn't even realize it was hot."
"You need to be careful during the rescue work upstairs too."
"Make absolutely sure every victim is properly covered with a fireproof blanket."
"Yeah."
"We should."
Hee-soo's words were broadcast over the radio to all of Rescue Team 3.
Every firefighter listening suddenly realized the same problem.
They were about to conduct rescue operations in an environment where the outside temperature was far beyond what a human could survive, yet their new suits prevented them from feeling the danger.
That meant the victims they were rescuing could easily be placed in serious danger.
"This could've gone badly."
"Looks like protective gear can actually be too good."
End of Chapter 025
