Ever since loosing their most recently closed engine company to budget cuts several years ago, the four remaining engine companies and two truck companies of the Holyoke, MA Fire Department have been, literally, running back and forth across the city answering calls. On the evening of Tuesday December 10, 2024 two alarm activations and one structure fire called in within 10 minutes completely drained this city of 38,000 of all available fire coverage to the point where the second alarm activation was initially responded to by just one engine company. Crews on the assignment sent to 32 Pleasant St. arrived to find smoke showing from the Bravo side first floor of an occupied two and a half story balloon frame single family dwelling and residents suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation. To complicate matters, a well intentioned HPD patrol officer got tunnel vision when he arrived on scene and focused on assisting the victims out of and away from the home before then rushing inside with his dry chemical extinguisher to try and fight the fire himself, leaving his patrol unit improperly parked on the Alpha side of the fire building. Despite this setback, Holyoke fire crews were able to make relatively fast work of the fire, stretching an attack line and a back up line to knocked down the fire in the kitchen within 10 minutes of arrival. Crews then set about checking for extension and overhauling the building over the next hour. Sadly, the family's pet snake, whose habitat was in the kitchen, died in the fire but all human residents made it out safely. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the HFD.