The Jackson County Floridan
JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. — Injured this week when a blast of super-heated steam engulfed him during a firefight, Jackson County Fire Rescue team member James Freudenberg will undergo his first major surgery on Friday, Aug. 16.
Fellow JCFR firefighter Lt. Charlie Brunner said Freudenberg will receive multiple skin grafts to his hands, wrists and arms. He received second- and third-degree burns to those limbs, and some injury to the top of his head and an ear because he lost his helmet as he struggled to find the fire line and exit the house after the steam blast. He wound up diving down the stairs of the two-story house, but Brunner said he suffered no physical injuries from making the leap. He is being treated at the University of South Alabama Burn Center in Mobile.
The county fire rescue service has set up an account at Wells Fargo where people can donate money to help Freudenberg pay travel and other expenses that will occur as he receives follow-up treatment there in the coming months. He is expected to be out of work at least 16 weeks and potentially longer.
Contributions can be made at any Wells Fargo location in the country, via the James Freudenberg Donation Account, number 2657151797.
Brunner said the fire team is also planning some fundraisers in the near future, but that the details of those events have not yet been worked out. “He has a long road to recovery ahead of him, and we know we live in the kind of community that will stand up and help out on the expense side while he gets well.”
Brunner said Freudenberg is known as a dedicated member of the fire service, having been inspired to do so by a fire chief in his childhood home near Naples in south Florida.
He’d wanted to be a fireman from a young age, and he has always been a very devoted person. He loves his job. Many times, almost always, he’d come in early, before his shift started,” Brunner commented.
Someone will have to drive Freudenberg back and forth to the hospital and help him with daily tasks at home for an extended period of time, Brunner said, as his hands and arms will likely be bandaged to the elbow while the grafts set and the burns heal. Initially, he won’t be able to perform tasks like doing laundry, cooking or the many other tasks that require hand and arm strength. Members of the fire-rescue team will be taking on some of the driving duty, Brunner said, volunteering to take him to Mobile on their off-days.
“We’re going to try to band together to do this after he gets home,” Brunner said.
Freudenberg, 29, is assigned to the Alford substation. He joined JCFR full time in February of 2012, and had worked part time as an auxiliary officer there for about a year prior to that.
Brunner asks that the community keep Freudenberg and all emergency responders in their thoughts and prayers. “For him, it’s going to be continued therapy, and in an injury like this that takes you out of service for however long, it’s a mental rehabilitation for anyone who does this and loves it as much as he does. It takes an emotional toll.”
After the Monday fire, at a home in the Cottondale area, he was initially taken to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. He was admitted Tuesday morning to the burn center and was expected to remain there through at least next week. He is considered to still be in guarded/serious condition, Brunner said, but is fully expected to survive.
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