There’s Something Hiding in the Knee Wall: A tale of fire, fear & a phantom captain shines a light on the power of leading by example.

Just then, a loud thump rent the night. There was a buzz, and then the whir of the fan blades on a compressor unit mercilessly slicing the air. The burned unit hadn’t been the AC unit after all, but only an AC unit! There were two, and the deceased one had left behind damaged electrical wiring. Had the effects of fire and water thrown the breaker, or were the wires merely dormant? They had to find the breaker box! Not merely to confirm a tripped breaker, but to cut power entirely. One could never be too safe, after all. The senior captain was a paranoid man who didn’t want to risk someone coming back and restoring power. So, he called for the utility company, which had no special rules for emergency response. It might take them hours to show up, and the beds back at the station were already made.

After a long search, someone found the breaker box.

But the senior captain could not stop looking at the burned wires hanging from the wall. Crews had been inside and had checked for extension but reported no heat, and the wall outside was cool. Still, something gnawed at him, so he went into the one-and-a-half-story house to check on things. Alone.

It was dark inside—and very quiet. The crews were outside picking up, ready to go home. The senior checked the wall with the wires using his thermal imaging camera; it was a cool 68 degrees, as was the ceiling. He noticed some stairs…

The senior made his way to the upper floor, the steps creaking beneath his feet. Light poured in through the dormer windows, shifting subtly. He shone his torch and determined it was smoke! But it was lazy and cold; the smell was faint. He found the room nearest the fire. Inside, there was a tiny door leading into a knee wall. He knelt down and opened the door. He saw an unfinished space—with exposed wood and cellulose insulation!

Still, there was no smell of smoke.

The senior crawled to the wall. He discovered a space between the framing and the brick veneer. He used his TIC to scan down in the wall, but it, too, was a cool 68 degrees. Well, that was that, he thought, and he began to crawl out of the space.

But a feeling came over him.

What would Senior Captain Jenkins do?

He remembered the crew he was with had a rookie. So, he opened the window and hollered for the rookie to come up real quick for a class on the features of a one-and-a-half-story house.

The rookie came up, and they went back into the crawl space to discuss knee walls and how they could hide fire in unexpected ways if one were thinking of conditions in one- or two-story houses. How the poor visibility could lead to confusion, and the sudden outbreak of fire might lead to serious chaos that could prove injurious or even fatal! He had the rookie practice with the TIC, peering into those hidden spaces where fire might lurk, but clearly wasn’t this time.

When they came out, the rest of the crew had come upstairs. They went over the knee walls again, and the other captain went in once more to check for extension, just to be safe.

There was no sign of fire.

The senior reckoned it was time to go. He was on the way out when, once more, a feeling pulled at him.

The cellulose insulation! He asked the rookie if he knew about it. He did not, so the senior explained how it could hold embers for hours, showing little to no signs of ignition, only to break out and cause significant damage. How frustrating it could be to engage in attic yoga, checking for these sneaky embers. How it got all over everything and was dusty and annoying. How one should lay down plastic before pulling ceiling in places with this hateful material, and how it should always be removed from the structure lest it harbors some heretofore hidden ember.

But once more, he realized he had an opportunity, and once more, he thought of what Senior Captain Jenkins would do.

So, they went back through the knee-wall door and shut it behind them.

Inside, the senior shone his light on the insulation, this terrible enemy.

And there, dancing in the beam of his flashlight, curled a thin but vigorous stream of smoke!

Later that night, the senior lay in his bed, eyes open in the dark, unable to sleep. He shuddered at how close he’d come to a rekindle, and how Senior Captain Jenkins had reached out across the Veil of Retirement to save him through his example of leadership.