By: Lua Monet and Daiyu Tang
Readers, many of you will be aware of the fire that burned fiercely near the Grind on the 24th February 2023. It started as these things often do with an emergency call alert to the police about a mystery fire, although for many of us in the know, it was clear from the Yuugen Tweets that something related to FDH was going to go down.
Does Anyone Want to Play Their Games?
In this city, it appears that the systems and powers that be are literally powerless to stop the rampage of the Yuugen, who unlike other gangs who often deal in the shadows, come out and ‘play’ with the whole town. Whether it’s destroying a hospital, bombing neighbouring towns or torturing half a dozen of Hathian’s good citizens, the Yuugen are relentless and untamed. HPD can’t even get their Twitter taken down, despite it posting naked images of their officers!
But it seems that people still are found to play in these games, mostly unwillingly for sure, but there are those that want to be on the Yuugen team, or who stand around and enjoy the spectable. Shame on you.
The Fire Claims Lives
The police arrived on the scene, setting up barricades and trying to keep the crowd under control, which in Hathian can often be quite hard with the ‘rubber neckers’ loving a show. FDH continued to battle the blaze, but it was clear, at least at the start, that they were struggling to make any significant progress.
Harrowing screams spilling from the building continued to intermittently echo through the air, piercing the hearts of everyone good who heard them. Some brave souls tried to run towards the building, hoping to rescue anyone who might still be inside but as expected of them, HPD and FDH did their best to stop them, fearing that their actions could endanger themselves or others.
As the fire raged on, a silhouette of a woman appeared at a second story window. It was clear that she was in distress, her body seemingly burnt and the reaction from the crowd was a deep gasp; perhaps their hearts racing with empathy, perhaps darker emotions.
The FDH officers were brave and using extendible ladders reached the fourth-floor window where as far as this reporter could tell he must have seen some hostages and possibly a kidnapper, although it later emerges that Sam Warrhol-Kelly had had a gun strapped to his hands in crude attempt by Yuugen to get HPD to shoot him and so be blamed for shooting a hostage.
With a crash of glass, the firefighters (appearing to be Chief Dale in the image above and to the left) breaks the fourth-floor window. Smoke billows out, obscuring their (and our) vision for a moment. When it clears, he must have been shocked at the sight. As we understood it he saw quite a few people, at least three men and two women, one of whom was salaciously naked in a cage.
From the Yuugen image ((Observer would blur boobies but link to real Tweet)) we can see that the hostages included not just Sam, but also HPD Media Spokeswoman Atsuko Nakayama (sans chest binding), an HGH worker and another male. There were reported to be others, although so far we’ve only had Officer Ellis (yes of Pig fame) reported to us and the identity of any others, or any deceased victims has not come to this paper.
Saving Lives Before the Boom
Firefighters quickly assessed the situation and we understand radioed for backup. The police, still trying to make sense of all the information, rushed around scene, although it appeared their confusion only grew with each passing moment.
From this reporter’s perspective, this is indeed one of the most disturbing incidents in recent memory. The firefighters worked tirelessly to rescue victims but they became aware of a frightening new piece of information; the building was filled with explosives! Any spark could set off a chain reaction making their job even more perilous and much more akin to their experience with the Yuugen at the HGH incident. We saw them work even harder, knowing that every second counted.
After what seemed liked hours of relentless effort, the firefighters finally managed to extinguish the flames leaving the air filled with the acrid smell of smoke and the cries of the injured. The police began to question the survivors, trying to piece together what exactly happened here while FDH and possibly HGH staff provided first aid tending to the wounds of the victims, who all appeared to have suffered severe burns and likely smoke inhalation.
FDH Officer Rog Messmer was pictured saving lives, using the tried and tested fireman’s lift to carry an injured victim to the waiting ambulances.
As the initial chaos subsided, we understand (and had it confirmed in a statement below) that the police discovered the charred remains of a woman and on another floor, the remains of a man. Due to the extent of burns it apparently was not yet possible to determine their identity or whether they died in the fire or sometime before at the hands of the Yuugen.
We trust that HPD will do what is needed about the Yuugen threat, but with their own officers seemingly easy targets, it looks like they will have their work cut out. As usual, the Observer likely echoes the general safety advice the HPD give: stay away from dangerous areas of the city; do not associate with the Yuugen and so on and so forth.
Statement from the Fire Department of Hathian
“Chief Dale Warrhol, Captain Rog Messmer, Firefighter Jari Seo-jun, Firefighter Noah Birdie and Firefighter Noriaki Yakubu attended the fire on Main Street on February 24th. The fire was very severe and had spread throughout the entire structure with seven captives inside. Regretfully two people lost their lives but five were rescued from the top floor by our expert lifesavers and they were transported to HGH for their injuries. Two firefighters were injured but are expected to recover. I am grateful to the members of my department for their dedicated hard work and HPD’s support at this difficult event. I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the families of the deceased victims of this tragedy.”
FDH statement released on 26th February 2024
The Observer wishes all victims a speedy recovery.
((OOC Extra images here – please don’t use IC photos not able to be IC obtained, e.g. inside building, etc))
((Photo Credits: Lua Monet))
