By Bridget Murphy
Florida Times-Union
Photo Jacksonville Fire Dept.
Rookie Shawn Hall was severely injured on the way to his first fire. |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Rookie firefighter Shawn Hall's pulse pounded with anticipation as Engine 51 rushed toward a Jacksonville mobile home blaze.
It would be the first fire of the 27-year-old's career.
It was only his fifth shift manning the engine following his training academy graduation. And Hall's crew members had just found out they'd be the first rescuers to arrive at the Jan. 3 fire.
But as Engine 51 drove through the Southside Boulevard intersection on Philips Highway, Hall saw another truck shooting toward them. From a rear seat behind his lieutenant, he watched the fire engineer struggle to keep control of the pumper.
There wasn't time.
"I remember feeling metal on metal hit," Hall said Wednesday from his hospital bed.
Seconds later, the rookie felt the metal bottle of the air pack strapped to his back scraping along Philips Highway as Engine 51 rolled over at least twice.
For 40 minutes that followed, colleagues worked to cut Hall out of the engine while treating his life-threatening injuries. With the husband and father of three still trapped, a department chaplain picked up Hall's wife, Courtney, at her St. Johns Town Center job and took her to the hospital.
"All I knew was the truck had crashed," she said Wednesday.
At first, no one answered the only question she wanted them to: Is Shawn still alive?
Inside Engine 51, her husband was worrying too.
His first thought: "My wife's gonna see this on the news."
His second: "How's my crew? ... Is the officer, my driver or other firefighter dead?"
"I was scared to death," Hall said in his first interview since the wreck.
It left the rookie with fractures and other injuries that will demand months of rehabilitation. He's already had some surgery and he'll need more. He'll have to learn to walk on his own again. But doctors told him he's capable of a full recovery.
That's what Hall and his wife are focusing on now as they face tough times ahead. It will take the rookie several months to get his body strong enough to return to work for light duty.
Since the wreck, Courtney, 25, barely has left her husband's bedside. The firefighter finally left the hospital and went to a rehab center Thursday. On Sunday, their family will celebrate Hall's 28th birthday there.
In the meantime, Courtney took a leave of absence from her job to help nurse him back to health and learn the exercises he'll have to do when he returns to their Middleburg home.
Besides her lost income, the former Orange Park High School sweethearts also are missing the money the firefighter earned in his second job as a paramedic for an ambulance company.
Family has pitched in to care for the couple's children. In the day time, Courtney's mother minds 5-year-old Alyssa and 10-month-old twins Sean Patrick and Emma. At night, Shawn's mother takes over.
Besides hospital visits to lift Hall's spirits, firefighters have been pitching in financially. Fire union President Randy Wyse said fire station personnel took up collections and the chiefs' association and retired firefighters also kicked in contributions.
After news of Hall's situation spread, fire unions in West Palm Beach and St. Petersburg sent word they'd be sending money for his family, Wyse said.
The Florida Highway Patrol is nearly finished with its investigation into the crash and will have an announcement soon about whether they'll file any charges, Lt. Bill Leeper said Friday.
The 43-year-old driver of the other truck told the Times-Union at the accident scene that he didn't hear the fire engine before it was too late. Authorities said Engine 51's lights and siren were on.
But the crash that nearly ended Hall's career just as it started won't stop him from picking up where he left off Jan. 3.
"I'm getting back to full duty," he said. "... Somebody's property is going to be on fire and I'm going to show up with my crew from 51."
Florida Times-Union
