Most people spend their honeymoon doing absolutely nothing. That’s the whole point.
Dante Suarez had other plans. Not on purpose, though.
Suarez is the fire chief in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He and his wife had finally gotten away on their long-delayed honeymoon, according to NBC Boston.
They picked Luquillo, Puerto Rico. Beaches, warm air, and more than 1,000 miles between the chief and his station.
And then, in the middle of a quiet lunch, the day turned into a shift.
Smoke Next Door
The couple was eating when something next door caught the chief’s attention.
“We were right next door when I heard some excitement,” he told NBC Boston. “Looked over, saw some smoke.”
He didn’t have his gear. He didn’t have his crew. He didn’t have a radio or a truck.
What he did have was a firefighter’s instinct. And, as NBC Boston put it, his instinct kicked in.
Before anything else, he found someone who worked there.
“I spoke with the bartender. I asked him if everyone was out of the building. He confirmed that. He said that the fire was in the kitchen,” Suarez said.
That’s the first question every firefighter asks. Is anyone still inside?
The answer was no. Everybody was out. Now it was just the chief and the fire.
No Sprinklers, One Extinguisher
That’s when the bad news came.
“Unfortunately, there was no sprinkler system or extinguishing system in the restaurant or in the kitchen, so we had to use just common extinguishers,” he said.
According to PEOPLE, the restaurant only had one extinguisher on hand.
One small extinguisher against a kitchen fire is not a fair fight. And it was getting worse.
“The smoke just started getting thicker and heavier, and you could really start feeling the heat coming from the kitchen into the dining area,” Suarez said.
So the chief did what fire chiefs do. He started giving orders.
He asked the staff to run to the restaurants nearby and borrow every extinguisher they could carry.
“I asked them to just start collecting extinguishers from the adjoining restaurants, and they did,” he said.
The Bartender Who Kept Handing Them Over
What happened next sounds almost like a bucket brigade from an old movie.
The staff lined the extinguishers up. The chief went into the smoky kitchen, emptied one, and came back out.
“They lined them up, and as I used one, I’d come out of the kitchen, and the bartender I spoke with earlier was right there, just handing me another extinguisher,” Suarez said.
Back in. Empty it. Back out. A fresh one waiting in the bartender’s hands.
Over and over again.
The chief had one big worry the whole time. The vents.
He was afraid the fire would climb into the vent system and spread up through the roof, NBC Boston reported.
If that had happened, a kitchen fire could have become a building fire. And maybe more than one building.
Seven or Eight Extinguishers Later
It didn’t happen.
“We contained the fire to just the kitchen and put it out with the common extinguishers, it was contained to just that area of the kitchen, and fortunately, it did not spread,” he said.
“I think it took either seven or eight extinguishers to make sure the fire was completely out and cooled enough where it wasn’t flaring back up.”
Seven or eight. Borrowed from the neighbors, one after another.
And the whole time, they were still waiting for the local fire department.
“Another concern we had was the fire department’s response, and it did take them about 30 to 40 minutes to respond, unfortunately,” Suarez said.
Think about that for a second. Half an hour or more, with no sprinklers and one extinguisher of their own.
If a fire chief hadn’t happened to be eating lunch next door, that kitchen fire would have had a long head start.
“I’m Glad I Could Help Somebody”
The kitchen took a beating. But everyone made it out.
The chief spoke with the restaurant owner after it was all over. Nearly everything in the kitchen has to be replaced, he said, but they’re hoping to reopen soon.
When people asked him about it, Suarez didn’t make it sound heroic at all.
“I don’t want to say it was work,” he said. “I’m glad I could help somebody. That’s all.”
That’s all. Seven or eight extinguishers, a smoky kitchen on his honeymoon, and that’s all.
What This Story Reminds Us
There are a few lessons hiding in this one.
First, check your own kitchen. Do you know where your fire extinguisher is? Does it still work?
Second, the very first thing the chief did was make sure nobody was inside. People first, always.
And third, sometimes help comes from the most unexpected places. A bartender with steady hands. Neighbors who didn’t think twice about lending their extinguishers.
And a fire chief who was supposed to be relaxing on a beach.
His wife, we’re guessing, will have a pretty good honeymoon story to tell for the rest of their lives.
Would you have run toward that smoke? Tell us in the comments.
