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Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale: In a word, Brian, what is this job all about?
Firefighter Brian McCaffrey: Fire.
Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale: It's a living thing, Brian. It breathes, it eats, and it hates. The only way to beat it is to think like it. To know that this flame will spread this way across the door and up across the ceiling, not because of the physics of flammable liquids, but because it wants to. Some guys on this job, the fire owns them, makes 'em fight it on it's level, but the only way to truly kill it is to love it a little. Just like Ronald.
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Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale: So stop me if I got this wrong. Now the fire is almost out, you're upstairs on the unburned floor checking for heat, is that correct? And you've been told by your Battalion Chief, your Captain and by me not to do nothin', right? Not to do nothin' until ordered. That's correct, right?
Candidate: Yes, sir.
Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale: Ok. But now the itch starts. The 'Glory Boy' flash starts. 'Hey, I'm a hero. Heroes don't just stand around.' You can tell me, that's what it was, wasn't it?
Candidate: Yes, sir.
Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale: So you punched out a window for ventilation. Was that before or after you noticed you were standing in a lake of gasoline?
[shouting]
Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale: Was that BEFORE OR AFTER you noticed you were standing in a lake of GASOLINE, YOU IDIOT?
Candidate: Before, sir.
Donald 'Shadow' Rimgale: You could have burned or killed or crispened half that company! To say nothing of the fact that you wrecked the physical evidence that I use to prove that it's arson, and you know how goddamned hard it is to determine the cause of these fires! Now you go home and you think about that!
Extended Reading
