After receiving a call at the firehouse, Captain Beatty, three other firemen and a hesitant Montag quickly respond to the scene. They arrive at the house and proceed to break down the door.
Once the firemen enter the house, they find a woman standing in the foyer area. Captain Beatty grows annoyed with her noncompliance and slaps her across the face, an action which, did not result in any outburst from the woman. The firemen figure out the location of the books and carry on through the house.
The firemen run through the house, searching for the attic where they suspect the books to be. Once the door is broken down, Mrs. Blake's ownership of books becomes overwhelmingly evident as the men stumble into an entire small library.
The firemen throw books down from the attic, pumping the house full of kerosene. In the ensuing chaos, Montag makes a quick decision to steal a book and hide it hastily under his arm.
As the woman struck the match against the railing, the house quickly went up in flames as the firemen rushed out. However, Montag stayed behind because he knew it was wrong to leave her within the burning building but it was clearly too late to change her mind.
When Montag arrives late at night from his fire call, Mildred is wondering what he is doing just standing in the middle of the room. After conversing about turning on the light, Montag decides to just put his stolen book underneath his pillow and go to sleep.