Vacant cars outside the LaGrange Fire Department remind Lt. James Ormsby III, Sean Guerrero and the entire department that four of their fellow firefighters are still in hospitals fighting to recover.
“We know the guys aren’t here,” Sgt. Chris Greathouse told Channel 2 Action News on Thursday. “It’s hard to see the vehicles in the parking lot knowing they are hurting. We have to just keep on.”
Ormsby and Guerrero were able to return to work Wednesday, two days after battling a house fire in LaGrange along with the four firefighters who suffered severe burns.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Pete Trujillo, Jordan Avera, Joshua Williams and Jonathan Williamson were all taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where three of them remained Thursday. On Wednesday, one of the four was moved to a burn center in Augusta, LaGrange city spokeswoman Katie Van Schoor said in a news release. That firefighter’s identity has not been released.
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The six firefighters were among those responding to a house fire around 3 a.m. Monday on Revis Street in Troup County after a neighbor called 911.
While fighting the blaze, a “flash-over situation” occurred, and everything in the home quickly went up in flames at the same time, Deputy Chief John Brant said.
At that point, the firefighters became trapped in the home.
“When the mayday call came out, we went in to get them,” Greathouse said. “That was probably the worst feeling I’ve ever felt to know I got to go in and get my guys.”
A freezer and an air conditioning unit blocked a window — the group’s nearest escape route, Ormsby said.
“When I pushed on the freezer the second time, it flew across the porch ... a firefighter’s hand came out the window, and I just grabbed it,” Ormsby told Channel 2.
Ormsby and Guerrero suffered minor injuries and were treated for smoke inhalation, but the other four suffered much more severe injuries.
Trujillo and Avera received second-degree burns, while Williams and Williamson had third-degree burns, Schoor said.
“These guys went in as a team. They went in as an attack team,” Ormsby said. “They went in as a rescue team, and they came out in the same fashion.”
No one else was injured during the incident.
A GoFundMe page was set up to help with expenses, with a $25,000 goal. It had raised more than $15,000 as of Thursday afternoon.
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