VIDEO: A Fort Worth firefighter remains hospitalized after he was injured when a garage collapsed during a two-alarm house fire in Fort Worth on Wednesday. The department said firefighter Caleb Halvorson was unable to reach his radio to call a “mayday” and called out to his fellow firefighters while praying for help, “not knowing if anyone could hear him.” The weight of the debris required additional manpower and tools before his crew could free him. Officials said that in less than two minutes, fellow firefighters pulled Halvorson from the burning debris. Halvorson was airlifted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where he remains in stable condition in the burn unit.
Fort Worth Fire said Halvorson suffered second and third-degree burns to his back, legs, hands, and face and will require skin grafting. He also has a severely dislocated knee, a possible shoulder tear, and other musculoskeletal injuries. “Fellow firefighters present noted that his survival was nothing short of miraculous,” the department said in a statement. A second firefighter, Lt. Troy Gallagher, was injured while rescuing his colleague, Fort Worth Fire said. “He was actively trying to help remove his crewmate from underneath all the debris so they could get him out and start working on him,” said Craig Trojacek, spokesperson for Fort Worth Fire.
Neighbors who live across the street caught on video the moments when the garage collapsed, trapping the firefighter underneath. “It was like a whole, entirely panicked sceneโฆ After that, I just watched firetrucks pull up, one after the other,” said Marlinese Hugh. Officials say Wednesday’s fire happened on the historic Southside of Fort Worth; it was spotted by crews who were on their way to the station just before 11 a.m. “By the time we got outside, you could literally feel the heat from the fire already, because it was already so big, and firefighters were just pulling up just as we were coming outside,” said Hugh.
