The moment I stepped into the house, I noticed how cold it was inside. The second thing I noticed was the sound of running water.
I’d lived in cold weather climates long enough to know what that running water meant. “Ford!” I yelled.
Walter’s house was small enough that it didn’t take long to find the spot where the paramedics had been working on him. There were a few pieces of plastic packaging at the top of the stairs, along with a discarded heavy winter coat. Walter’s wheelchair was sitting in front of the narrow hallway that led to the basement stairs and Puddles was sitting in the middle of the chair with a small lap blanket that belonged to Walter thrown over her. She was shivering and whining.
The sound of the water grew louder so I hurried past the dog and rushed down the stairs. I sucked in a breath when I saw that the basement had at least three feet of water in it and Ford was wading around in it. One of the main water pipes in the unfinished basement was spraying what had to be frigid water at an alarming rate.
“Ford!”
He ignored me and kept moving around the basement like he was looking for something.
I called his name again, but he didn’t respond. I used my shoulder radio to call dispatch so they could send the fire department out, then waded into the water after Ford. The inside temperature had fallen dangerously low and I knew it wouldn’t take long for Ford to feel the effects.
I got to him just as he made it to the far side of the furnace. I grabbed his arm, but he pulled it free.
“Leave it!” I called over the sound of the burst pipe.
“No!” Ford yelled. “I have to turn off the water!”
I’d managed to grab his arm again as he tried to reach for something behind the furnace just below the surface of the water. He was practically frantic as he tried to get to whatever it was he was looking for.
“The fire department is on the way! They’ll take care of it!”
Ford actually looked blue and his teeth were chattering. Fear that he was in real danger of hypothermia had me dragging him toward the stairs.
“No, Cam, please! I need to turn the water off. A pipe could burst upstairs and he’ll lose everything! I can reach the valve!”
It was him saying my name that had me hesitating.
“Please, Cam,” he said so softly that I barely heard him above the sound of the water.
“Do it,” I said as I released him and followed him back to that corner of the basement. I began mentally counting to thirty as I watched Ford reach beneath the water again. With nearly his entire body submerged, I doubted I’d even give him the full thirty seconds to turn the valve.
I was at twenty when I reached for him.
“Got it!” he yelled. The water above our heads began to slow and then finally stopped. The second it did, I grabbed Ford’s arm and pulled him toward the stairs. He didn’t protest in any kind of way. As we began climbing the steps, he stumbled behind me and hit the wood steps hard. He let out a little whimper of pain. I dropped down enough so I could put my arm around his waist. I maneuvered his right arm so it was draped over my shoulders and then used all my strength to lift him to his feet. His body felt ice cold against mine.
“So cold,” he mumbled.
“I’ve got you, Ford. Gonna get you warm,” I said as I pretty much dragged him up the stairs.
“I should’ve checked on him. He… he has to be okay, Cam. He has to be.”
“He will be,” I said, though since I had no idea what the extent of Walter’s injuries were and he wasn’t exactly a young man, I had no grounds to make that promise to Ford. But the guilt in his voice was like a dagger being plunged into my gut.
My hope that help might have arrived by the time I got Ford upstairs and snagged Puddles on the way was dashed when I got to the front door. There was no fire engine sitting at the curb or tearing around the corner. I didn’t even hear a siren in the distance.
Using my shoulder radio to call dispatch, it soon became clear that we were on our own for a while because the fire truck was still dealing with the cleanup of a four-car accident that had happened in the next town over. Further complicating things was the fact that Pelican Bay’s other ambulance was transporting one of the victims of the crash to the hospital.
I glanced at my patrol vehicle and debated whether or not I should take Ford to the hospital myself. But even with lights and sirens, it would still take me ten minutes.