Copyright 2006 Chattanooga Publishing Company
By STUMP MARTIN
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
ROCK SPRING, Ga. — A Walker County firefighter was in stable condition Monday with burns over 25 percent of his body after a porch collapsed as he was fighting a house fire on New Hope Road on Sunday.
Walker County Fire Chief Randy Camp said Leslie Edwards, 25, could have been hurt worse than the second- and third-degree burns on his legs, back and shoulder if Lt. James Yearout had not been there to dig him out and pull him to safety.
Officials said Mr. Edwards was in stable condition in the burn unit at Erlanger hospital.
Chief Camp said the two-story home at U.S. Highway 27 and New Hope Road was half-engulfed in flames when firefighters entered it about 12:40 p.m.
“Conditions deteriorated, and they were exiting the house when the front porch collapsed outward and trapped Leslie,” Chief Camp said. He said Lt. Yearout immediately dove down and began digging his comrade out.
“He did a tremendous job,” Chief Camp said. “It’s difficult when you are burning yourself and you’re getting one of your firefighters out, too.”
Lt. Yearout was treated at Hutcheson Medical Center for second-degree burns and a nail puncture wound. He was released Sunday.
Michael Sprayberry and his family had gone out to eat when the fire apparently started in wiring under a floor, Chief Camp said. The home was a total loss.
Mr. Edwards said he was glad his lieutenant was there.
“I’m doing the best I can be under the conditions,” he said from the hospital Monday. “It was very scary being up under that porch.”
Chief Camp said, “They say during stressful situations you either fight or fly. But, like James told me, there was no way he was leaving Leslie behind.”
He said the young man would be hospitalized for about three days to make sure the third-degree burn on his back does not become infected.
Mr. Edwards and Lt. Yearout are among the paid full-time firefighters working for the predominantly volunteer Walker County Fire and Rescue.
Chief Camp said he has “received burns three times significantly.”
“It’s the scariest thing you think about,” he said.
Walker County Commissioner Bebe Heiskell said, “I’m pleased he had on all his turnout gear and breathing apparatus, or it would have cost him his life.
“They are exceptional people who take their lives into their hands every time they go into a burning building.”