By Leila Merrill
BUFFALO GAP, Texas — A Buffalo Gap Volunteer Fire Department was injured at a structure fire in 2018, and now complications from that incident require a second surgery.
Friends of Joe Palmour, a 20-year volunteer with the Buffalo Gap Volunteer Fire Department, have set up a fundraiser to help him and his wife, KTAB/KRBC reported.
In 2018, Palmour was checking an attic for hotspots when he fell off a ladder and landed on his SCBA tank, breaking his neck, according to a Facebook post by the department.
Palmour now is on unpaid leave from the Buffalo Gap water department.
“My wife, she started a job but she can’t pull all of the weight and I can’t pull none of the weight now,” Palmour told the news outlet.
He cannot work at this time, his mobility is limited, and he “wears a neck brace at all times to prevent further damage to his spinal cord from his cervical vertebrata injured in his 2018 fall,” the news outlet wrote.
His next surgery is set for Aug. 1.
Palmour will not be allowed to take paid time off for his post-op recovery, which is estimated at three months.
The SpotFund page to support the Palmours has a $5,000 goal.