Fire

**Fire** is the third episode of the first season of the Stories of Sodor and the third episode overall.

Fire/Transcript

## Plot

The episode starts off with Edward introducing Mickey, the chief of the Fire & Rescue Service. He maintains safety and traveling conditions on Sodor, helps in accidents and breakdowns and takes damaged engines to the works if necessary. He also responds to track-side fires. Both Midis and Nor'Easters respect Mickey, as he does not belong to either company. He would often give dull lectures to engines who make mistakes.

One day, Thomas, Annie and Clarabel were taking workmen to Elsbridge Harbour when they find Mickey and his men at a fire drill. Thomas talks with Mickey before continuing on. The new harbour project was part of the Sodor Construction Scheme, a government initiative to create jobs for Sodor during the Great Depression. Edward and Percy are talking about how quickly things are built when Thomas arrives with the workmen, who are to do serious dredging so deep-drawn ships can approach. Edward tells Thomas to leave his coaches by the station and bring over a line of trucks from there.

As Thomas buffers up to the trucks, he wonders where James is, since he was supposed to be there an hour ago. It turns out that the turntable at Carldon had jammed, trapping James in a siding. Soon, the turntable is fixed and James gets onto it. Just then, Douglas shunts some trucks into a siding when they suddenly derail, much to James' annoyance and the delight of the other trucks. Luckily, the derailed trucks didn't block off the siding James needed. James had found a silver lining to this: Douglas needs to explain the incident to Mickey. James then races down the line, trying to make up for lost time. However, because of the speed, one of the axle boxes on one of his trucks starts to overheat and spark. In the darkness of Ballahoo Tunnel, the guard notices and throws on the brakes. After inspecting the truck, the guard tells James' crew that they can still continue, but they must travel at a very slow pace so they won't risk more damage to the truck. No one notices that a spark from the truck had landed in a dry brush at the other end of the tunnel and was starting to simmer.

At Lower Knapford, Thomas and Percy's crews are having lunch while the tank engines are talking about the news from Germany. Soon after James arrives, sirens start blaring and Mickey races off to the place where the spark from James' train had landed in the bush. A nearby Lily had raised the alarm, and Sodor Electrical had shut off the power. As soon as Mickey arrives, the firemen set to work putting out the fire, leaving behind scorched earth. The nearby signalmen tells Mickey how fast James went by his signal box. "I wouldn't want to be James right now," Lily says to herself.

At Elsbridge, both Mickey and Mr. Star scold James. Mickey informs the Nor'Easter controller that James' actions have caused damage to the power grid and all of Lower Knapford will likely be without power until the pole is replaced. In order to cover the cost of the repairs, Mr. Star tells his engines that they will have to take on extra jobs because the government has been neglecting to give them the payment for the harbour contract. Mr. Star tells James that he will be working at the mines until further notice. During this conversation, Diesel had been nearby. He tells the rest of the Midis.

For the next week, while James was held up at the mines with only the teasing trucks for company, the other six engines have to take on James' work and the extra jobs as well as their own. Throughout this time, the Midis keep on teasing them. Gordon meets up with Percy at Knapford and complains about the indignity of pulling goods trains, while Percy points out he isn't the only one to suffer, as he and Thomas have shunted every truck on the Island twice over.

At the Midi's upgraded yard at Wellsworth, Thomas has finished shunting a goods train when Diesel and Colin arrive to taunt him. Colin then sneezes out smoke from his funnel, which clears out his smokebox, something Diesel had told him to do earlier. The two Midis head off when Thomas suddenly notices their trucks have caught fire from Colin's sneeze. Colin tries to push the train out of the shed, only to spill out some of the coal, causing the fire to spread even more. To make matters worse, there are two tar wagons in the shed. The three engines quickly retreat to the far side of the yard, where Diesel's driver goes to telephone Mickey. The yard's workmen join the three engines, but the foreman notices that one of them, Cooper, is missing. Thomas decides to go back and look for him. He finds Cooper with a twisted ankle, and his crew helps him aboard, but before he can get away from the fire, Thomas' safety valve bursts. Luckily for him, Colin is able to come to his rescue. Soon, Mickey and his crew arrive and put out the fire.

After the fire is put out, Mickey takes Thomas to the workshops at Crovan's Gate, where they see Skarloey, Percy, and Edward. Mickey scolds Thomas for his recklessness but nonetheless commends him for his bravery. After the repairs at Wellsworth are completed, Mickey gives both the Midis and Nor'Easters a long and dull lecture about fire safety. Edward closes out the story by saying that it was a long time before an engine caused another fire on Sodor but that it's a story for another day.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Douglas
* Diesel
* Colin
* Lily
* Reginald
* Mickey
* Annie and Clarabel
* Mickey's Water Tankers
* Some Trucks
* Mr. Star
* Thomas' Driver
* Thomas' Fireman
* Edward's Driver
* James' Driver
* James' Fireman
* Lily's Crew
* Henry's Tunnel Signalman
* Wellsworth Yard Foreman
* Cooper
* Skarloey *(does not speak)*
* Mr. Zorro *(does not speak)*
* James' Guard *(does not speak)*
* Mickey's Firefighters *(does not speak)*
* Henry *(cameo)*
* Toby *(cameo; speaks in old version only)*
* Donald *(cameo)*
* Adam *(cameo)*
* Adolf Hitler *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* An older version of this video can be found on YouTube, but Victor Tanzig remade it (along with several others from Season 1) because he was unhappy with it and embarrassed by the fast narration.
* The scene where Thomas is taken to the works by Mickey is the only time Sodor Island 3D's Skarloey model is used.