By Matt Clark
Gorman, Texas, Volunteer Fire Department
When the call came out for a grass fire, we were already working at a structure fire. Within a few minutes of getting there, we were patrolling the road, trying to keep the fire from jumping across. Someone approached us to tell us the fire was coming right at us.
The fire was serious: Visibility was low, and even one of the hoses on a pumper truck got burned. The chief accidentally backed our brush truck into a ditch, and it was stuck.
I jumped off the truck, and the chief and I took off running. The truck was destroyed. We were overcome by smoke and surrounded by 30-foot flames, which burned my face and hands.
Then I saw one of my fellow firefighters lying on the ground. I picked him up and ran down the road carrying him. We ran into a highway patrolman, who took him to the hospital.
All I remember during the rescue is thinking, “We’ve got to get away from it, but we’re not going to leave him here.”
I spent 15 days in a Dallas hospital and had surgery on each hand. It took me a couple of months to recover and return to my job as a prison guard, but I’ve also returned to firefighting.
As I look back on the event, I don’t consider myself a hero. We were all there like we were supposed to be, just doing what we had to do.
The real hero was Greg Simmons, the Eastland firefighter who died during this fire, only about a mile down the road from us.
It could have been worse. There are things we could have done differently, but everyone responded the way they knew how.