By Cliff Pinckard
cleveland.com
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — A firefighter was wounded in the arm Thursday when a firearm inside a home discharged during a fire, reports say.
According to WHIO Channel 7, Springfield Fire Division Capt. Jonathan Pirk was hit by a bullet in the padding on his jacket near his elbow while battling the fire. Pirk tells WHIO that he didn’t realize he had been shot.
“I had the adrenaline going pretty good,” Pirk said. “I know I felt something pretty quick, but we still had quite a job to do.”
When another firefighter let Pirk know that a gun had been found in the house, he decided to get his elbow checked out, WHIO reports. He went to a hospital for treatment but was quickly released and he went back to join his colleagues at the scene.
Springfield Fire Chief Jacob Young tells WHIO that a weapon discharging during a fire is “extremely rare.”
A resident in the home was rescued and was taken to a hospital for treatment for burns, WHIO reports.
©2025 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit cleveland.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
