By Jule Hubbard
The Wilkes Journal-Patriot
BROADWAY, N.C. — A firefighter’s ring finger on his right hand was broken by a motor part that became a projectile during a shop and storage building fire Thursday night in the Oakwoods community.
Michael Thornton, a Broadway Fire Department captain and Wilkes Emergency Medical Services paramedic, hadn’t been on the fire scene long and was standing outside the building when a hydraulic shock that had been removed from an all-terrain vehicle crashed through a wall and struck his finger.
Wilkes Emergency Medical Services was dispatched at 10:30 p.m. and transported Thornton to Wilkes Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released. Broadway Fire Chief Tracy Brooks said the spring apparently was propelled by pressure resulting from liquid gas in the shock being heated by the fire. The shock was about an inch in diameter.
Full story: Firefighter injured in unusal accident