A Firefighter's Angel

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A few moments later, Mark heard the message again. "Okay," Mark said (in his mind) to the Voice. "I'll go pretty soon. Let me hit this a little more, and see if I can get somewhere."

The Voice was not convinced. "Mark!" it answered, in a no-nonsense tone, "You need to go NOW!" The Voice did not sound angry that he had been ignoring it, Mark says. "It sounded as if it was just giving me an urgent warning." Mark could disregard it no longer. He turned, motioned to his partner and the two crouched down, to make their way back to the first room. It was difficult, due to all the debris strewn around.

As they entered, Mark suddenly saw a tongue of flame enter the room, and heard the terrible "whomph!" sound that all firefighters dread. It was a flashover, something that happens when the contents of a room are so hot that they can instantly explode, and just one flame can engulf a room in seconds. "Gear might keep you alive for a few seconds if you are caught in a flashover," Mark says, "but you will still be seriously burned." (In fact, the survival rate for firefighters caught in a flashover is 3 to 5 percent.)

"GET DOWN GET DOWN!" Mark yelled as his partner hit the floor. Immediately Mark aimed water at the flash flame, and drove it back, just enough for the two to scramble to safety. Had they still been in the second room--or in the first room for just a few more seconds--they never would have lived.

As the fire waned, Mark thought more seriously about the voice. It had been a young voice, something like his own, firm but not intimidating, a voice that he instinctively knew he could trust and obey. And...yes, he had heard it once before, when he was seventeen and involved in a serious automobile accident. Wasn't it this same voice that had calmed him as he crashed, reassured him that all would be well? But how could this be?

After the fire, Mark told a friend--another firefighter--about his experience. This man had served more than two tours of duty in Vietnam as a Ranger, extensively involved in combat, as well as a stint in Desert Storm. He immediately knew what Mark was describing. "I heard that voice on a number of occasions, in fires and in combat," the veteran told Mark, "and I learned to listen to it. The times I got hurt were when I didn't."

"I personally believe that I owe my life to whoever's voice that was," Mark says today. "Maybe God, maybe an angel.I don't know. But I'm sure glad they were on my entry team."

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