LINCOLN HEIGHTS, OH (FOX19) –
A Wyoming volunteer firefighter was injured Wednesday evening while battling a blaze on Van Buren Street in Lincoln Heights. He is now in good spirits and recovering.
Taylor Wood, 22, was responding to a fire call just like any
other.
“Once we got there, we saw
flames coming out the windows, heavy smoke coming out the eves of the house,”
said Wood.
He was on the roof checking for a
place to ventilate the house. While he was up there, the roof started to
feel a little soft, so Wood thought it was time to get down.
That’s when things changed.
“As I’m going back out my
path that I came in, I hit it one more time, made sure I found a stud to step
on, and I just fell straight down,” Wood told FOX19.
He fell several feet into the
attic space before catching himself on the trusses of the house.
“My pants had come up above
my boots. I got third degree burns on my right leg, second degree burns
on my left leg,” Wood added.
He punched a hole in the drywall
to get out but found nothing but flames below him. His only option was
to go back up the way he came down.
“I finally got through on
the radio, ‘Mayday, mayday, mayday! Firefighter Wood. I’ve fallen
through the roof. I’m okay. I would just like some help, a ladder
up here to rescue me,'” said Wood.
Wood says he just had to stay
calm and let his training kick in and take over.
“My adrenaline was for sure
going, but I never thought to myself that this was the end. It was not
like that,” he said.
He’s so dedicated to being a
firefighter, he was actually on another call early Thursday morning driving a
ladder truck donning full gear.
An adult and two teenagers were inside at the time and were able to make it out safely.
The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen, located in the rear of the home, and spread to the attic.
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