what it takes to save a town
we’re just starting to learn
what extreme acts it took
to keep some homes standing
luckily we missed the terror
of knowing all that night –
especially, how the water nearly ran dry
the public works crew drives back to the plant,
the Superior plant is offline
their generator burned
pumps now not running
which means one town’s water
is fighting for two
telephone poles burning beside them
they need to get more gas to the generators
drive fuel through the flame
miraculously, nothing explodes
so many systems down now
the Louisville crew knows
the only way to learn what water’s left
is to actually climb the tank
and peer down inside the hatch
in hurricane winds
in a firestorm
Jeff goes 20 feet up in the air
crawls on his belly
looks down into the gloom
and it’s worse than he thought
only two feet left
Shane and his crew
accompany the firefighters
house by burning house
shutting each charred ruin’s water off
so precious gallons can’t spew from severed pipes
and in an audacious act
Greg and Kurt decide
they’ll do whatever it takes
to feed those firefighter hoses
even throwing open
the precious pipes they’ve always guarded
to raw untreated water
something they’ve never contemplated
something one would never train for
they work 35 hours straight
putting their courage and ingenuity
on the line for our two towns
and, it works
and,
we’re forever thankful
