Now That Was A Spicy Meal

As we pulled out of the station the radio came to life. We, along with the rest of our first alarm assignment, were responding for a structure fire. PD was on scene as was reporting smoke coming from the garage. 

The first thing we noticed when we were pulling up was the complete absence of smoke. Meh. The next thing we noticed were all the cop cars.

I jumped off the truck as soon as the airbrake was set. The sergeant told me that they had a pair of burning chonies in the garage.

I made my way into the clutter filled storage space that was supposed to be able to house a vehicle and sure enough there was a smoldering pair of tighty whities. I grabbed a metal pole from among the crap (that wasn't an intentional pun but it is funny) and lifted the underwear.

As I was moving them out to the driveway I held up the garment and told my captain that that had to have been one seriously spicy meal (another bad pun).

We used the thermal imager to make sure there was nothing else burning in the garage.

Afterward I asked one of the officers what the story was. He said that they had showed up that morning to arrest a parole for not checking in the previous week. The bad guy had been in the garage and heard the officers pull up. In a vain attempt to get away he lit the underwear on fire and then ran out the door....directly into the arms of a waiting officer. The felon had a history of running and the good guys had been prepared for that.