to supply the truck with water. Once they secured a supply line to the hydrant, they received a hand signal from the pump operator to turn it on. As they did, several more trucks from more companies arrived.

Eventually, 6 firefighters began climbing up the ladder, carrying 2 hand lines and 4 pike poles. As they inched closer to the fire escape, just feet from the flames, they all masked up as smoke blew into their faces.

Ruby was the first to reach the tip of the ladder. She noticed ice on the fire escape and yelled down, "Be careful! There's ice here! Get me a pike pole to break it!" After receiving a pike pole, she broke the ice and swept it away. Afterwards, she carefully stepped onto thefinished, the senior firefighter said, "I want one line in here and pike poles to be used for breaking up the ceiling. I want the second line in the hallway, fighting the remaining fire."

Ruby began ripping up the ceiling with a pike pole, bringing down some burning debris that the first line crew, consisting of Blake and another firefighter, put out.

Meanwhile, Weiss and her cousin Elsa, Alfred's 17-year-old daughter and his youngest child, began advancing the second line into the hallway. Weiss opened the gates of the nozzle and sprayed water at the flames in the hallway, knocking them down. She then heard a radio transmission say, "Vigilant Truck Interior, be advised, you have 2 more apartments above you on fire at this time. We got 4 more