By Sarah Roebuck
FireRescue1/EMS1
DURANGO, Colo. — A firefighter was struck by a falling tree during a wildland fire training, the Durango Herald reports.
The incident happened on March 9 when Jim Meyer, 50, was working as a spotter during a complex training for removing a stand of trees. Meyer told the Durango Herald that he was with 25 other firefighters during the training.
Meyer was transported by EMS to a nearby hospital but later flown by helicopter to Colorado Springs for emergency surgery to remove part of his skull. He sustained a broken vertebra and multiple skull fractures.
Meyer declined to share the agency he was working with, but told the Durango Herald that he plans to return to wildland firefighting.
“I won’t quit fire – no way,” Meyer told the Durango Herald. “We need firefighters, we need wildland firefighters. It’s a lifestyle, man, it’s not a job.”
A GoFundMe has been created to help cover his medical expenses.