Collateral Damage

FADE IN:

1A INT./EXT. NYFD FIREHOUSE - VARIOUS SHOTS - NIGHT

One A.M. on a hellish summer night in Spanish Harlem.

1A

1B FIREFIGHTER 1B

snores like a chainsaw in the upstairs sleeping quarters.

1C INT. LIVING AREA 1C

A FAN WHINES as a firefighter channel surfs.

1D TRUCK BAY 1D

A rookie firefighter shines chrome on the pumper.

1E BAY'S OPEN DOORWAY 1E

A firefighter plays chess with a neighborhood kid.

BLASTS from somewhere.

SALSA:

1F OLD FIREHOUSE 1F

spills light onto a street of aging, neglected buildingsas people beat the heat in open windows, on stoops and

street corners.

1G FIREHOUSE DALMATION 1G

laps water from a dripping hydrant.

2 INT. FIREHOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT 2

NYFD Lt. GORDY PITT strains as he works the handle of an

old-time, hand-cranked ice cream maker. It's a tough jobrequiring strength, patience and determination. In a

nutshell, that's Gordy.

Firefighter JUNIOR MONTINE, black Panamanian descent,

watches Gordy crank away.

JUNIOR:

Hear the big news, Lieutenant?

It's the twenty-first century. We

got electricity now.

Gordy keeps cranking.

(CONTINUED)

2.

2 CONTINUED:
2

JUNIOR:

Got these supermarkets, too.

places, freezers full o' ice

cream.

Big

Gordy stops. Pops the lid. Spoons out a dollop.

GORDY:

Open up.

He sticks the spoon in Junior's mouth. Junior eats.

Junior loves it. Gordy smiles.

GORDY:

Screw the twenty-first century.

The FIRE BELL SOUNDS.

3 INT. FIREHOUSE - VARIOUS SHOTS 3

Everyone scrambles. The choreography's practiced,

automatic. It's achieved without conversation.

The channel surfer slides down the fire pole. He's

followed by the man who was upstairs snoring.

Junior rips a sheet from the teleprinter. He hands the

printout to the snorer, the company's "chauffeur."

Feet jam into boots. Yellow trousers are hauled up andhitched with suspenders.

Yellow jackets are whipped on.

The chauffeur TURNS OVER the PUMPER'S huge MOTOR.

Firefighters take their stations on the truck. Headsets

go on. As the fire company's lieutenant, Gordy ridesshotgun. The chauffeur hands him the printout. As the

engine moves out under lights and SIREN, Gordy speaks tothe men over the headsets -GORDY

Second alarm. Multiple dwellingbetween Third and Lex.

4 EXT. SPANISH HARLEM - STREETS - NIGHT 4

The ENGINE SCREAMS and HONKS through the city.

3.

5 EXT. SPANISH HARLEM - TENEMENT - NIGHT 5

FLAMES ROAR from the upper stories of this slumlord'sshitbox. An engine and ladder company are on-sceneattacking the fire with hoses. Neighbors gawk. Gordy'sengine company arrives. Gordy hits the ground, moves toa battalion chief. The chief's terse orders are drowned

out by the NOISE of the EQUIPMENT, fire and men. Gordymoves back to his company, who have already hooked theengine up to water.

GORDY:

Top story's fully involved. We're

supporting inside. Two lines upthe stairs.

He points to Junior and then to the channel surfer, MIKESHEA, a veteran firefighter of Irish descent.

GORDY:

Junior and Mike -He

points to the chess player, SAL DIBIASE, another FDveteran, Mediterranean descent, and then to the rookie,

RONNIE BOOK, a New York melting pot mutt.

GORDY:

-- Sal and Ronnie.

The chauffeur, ART WESTPHAL, German-Irish, stays with theengine as Gordy grabs a fire axe and leads his two two-

man hose teams into...

6 INT. TENEMENT 6

Gordy and his men charge the stairs dragging the heavyhoses. Rats head past in the opposite direction,

deserting the burning building.

7 THIRD FLOOR 7

They meet fire on the third floor. On goes the water.

Gordy quickly checks rooms on the floor for occupants,

using the axe to open locked doors, then taps Junior andMike, indicates "up." Begins leading the hose team upthe stairwell. Sees something and yells a warning -GORDY

Stairs're screwed. Hug the wall.

8 FOURTH FLOOR 8

They reach the fourth floor. There's fire everywhere.

And then...

(CONTINUED)

4.

8 CONTINUED:
8

They see a FIREFIGHTER from the other company. He has

fallen through a gaping hole in the floor of the hallwayabove. He's pinned under a large section of heavydebris, coughing and screaming for help as fire ragesaround him. To Junior and Mike -GORDY

Knock it back!

They turn the hose on the flames as Gordy moves to thetrapped firefighter. Gordy tries lifting the debris,

can't budge it. He starts chopping at it with the axe.

Chunks of plaster fly as the axe bites again and again.

Gordy hacks off a large piece of debris. He levers his

axe under the portion still trapping the firefighter.

Mike moves to help. Gordy heaves up on the axe. The

debris lifts. He heaves harder. It lifts more,

until...

Mike slides the firefighter out. Gordy yanks his axefree. The debris collapses. Gordy moves to thefirefighter.

FIREFIGHTER #1

Two floors up. I heard

screaming... Couldn't get there.

GORDY:

Where?

FIREFIGHTER #1

End of the hall.

9 GORDY 9

takes off. Charges the next flight of stairs. Reaches

the fifth floor. Tries to reach six, but there's too

much fire. He's beaten back... but not before he hears

the FAINT sound of SCREAMING.

10 NEW ANGLE 10

Gordy looks down the fifth floor hallway to an apartmentdoor at the end. Between him and the door is the gapinghole in the floor. It's too big to jump. He starts

running. He's gonna jump it.

Gordy reaches the edge of the hole. Leaps with all he's

got. At the same time, he swings the axe, point-first.

Slams it into a spot high on the wall, and...

(CONTINUED)

5.

10 CONTINUED:
10

Gordy swings over the hole on the axe handle.

He hits the other side running. Drives a shoulder into

the door at the end of the hall.

11 INT. TENEMENT APARTMENT 11

Gordy bursts in. It's an inferno. He looks up. Knocks

his axe on the ceiling. Hears desperate POUNDING back.

Gordy climbs a table. Starts whacking upward with theaxe, attacking the peeling, crumbled plaster overhead.

Gordy is trying to hack a hole into the room above, buthe's not doing it fast enough. He won't beat the fire.

12 INT. TENEMENT - HALLWAY 12

Gordy calls down to his men.

GORDY:

Give me the hose!

Beat.

MIKE:

This place is gone! It could

flashover any second!

GORDY:

Give me the goddamn hose!

Mike and Junior pass the hose up.

13 INT. TENEMENT APARTMENT 13

Gordy aims the nozzle at the hole he started in theceiling. Turns it on full jet.

Gordy's barely able to hold the hose as the high-pressurestream bites into old, decayed plaster.

Bit by bit the ceiling falls away. Gordy's almostthrough to the room above, when...

Falling debris severs the hose. Gordy's lost pressure.

He hasn't broken through. The building's coming down.

He's gotta get outta there.

Gordy's not going anywhere. Picks up the axe. Attacks

the hole again furiously, until finally...

6.

14 GORDY 14

breaks through! A small hole, which he quickly widens,

to reveal... a terrified Latino family gaping down athim, their room ablaze around them. Gordy reaches up.

Speaks to them in Spanglish -

GORDY:

It's okay... Esta bien, esta

bien... Come with me... Con mio...

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