Play with Fire

chapter Thirteen

ENGULFED IN GREEDY flames, the building that had once been Temple Beth Israel burned like a Nazi wet dream. About a dozen nearby homes were evacuated, and the black swirling smoke made the air virtually unbreathable for a radius of three blocks. The flashing red lights of the responding fire trucks and police cars combined with the flames and smoke issuing from the synagogue to produce a hellish vision that Hieronymus Bosch might have envied.

Lieutenant Ramon Gutierrez, commander of AFD Fire Response Unit number six, clambered into the cab of one of his team’s fire trucks and pulled the door shut behind him. Only then did he remove his helmet, then the oxygen mask. Gutierrez spent a few seconds savoring the experience of breathing air that had not been processed through a filter, then opened the snap pocket in his yellow slicker to produce his two-way radio. Within moments, he was talking to his boss.

“We’ve got it under control now, sir.” He spoke loudly, so that Captain Benson on the other end could hear him – there was plenty of competing noise coming from outside. “It won’t spread beyond the building – but the synagogue itself is a total loss. It was fully involved by the time we got here.”

With his free hand, Gutierrez pulled a bandana from his pocket and used it to wipe away some of the sweat and soot that covered much of his face. “I’m thinking that some kind of accelerant was used, Captain, but we won’t know for sure until the fire marshal’s guys make their report, and my guess is they won’t even be cleared to get in there until sometime tomorrow.”

He listened for a few seconds, then said, “Yes, sir. The rabbi in charge of the place is named David Feldman, F-E-L-D-M-A-N. I asked HQ to locate him, but nobody seems to know where he is. They called his wife, and she says he hasn’t come home yet. He was expected several hours ago, I gather. The wife says she called him a bunch of times, starting around ten o’clock, but he never answered. She’s pretty hysterical at this point, I understand. Hard to blame her.”

Gutierrez listened some more. “Yes, sir, we’ll know for sure in the morning, once the structure is safe to enter – or what’s left of it is. But if the Rabbi’s in there, my guess is we won’t find much left. It’s a damn hot fire, sir, with no chemicals or other hyper-combustibles to explain it. That’s why I’m thinking it was arson.”

He listened briefly and said, “Yes, sir, I’ll keep you informed, and I’ll bring the day watch commander up to speed when he comes on duty. Gutierrez out.”

Lieutenant Ramon Gutierrez slipped the radio back into his coat pocket, replaced his oxygen mask and helmet, and went back to fight the conflagration engulfing what had once been Temple Beth Israel.