By Gary Reaves
WFAA
DALLAS, Texas — Injured and in pain, Matt Clark is having trouble with his new label.
“I don’t feel like I’m a hero,” he said. “I did what any fireman would do.”
Clark has only been a firefighter for six months. He’s a volunteer. His full-time job is as a prison guard in Abilene.
But when a raging brush fire broke out near his home in Gorman on Friday, he answered the call with his chief.
Almost instantly, they were surrounded by the flames.
“At this point, we are at a dead sprint, trying to outrun the fire,” Clark said.
A blast of flames scarred his face with first degree burns. He suffered third degree burns to his hands.
The fire truck they were on was destroyed.
“It was very scary,” Clark said from bed at the Parkland Memorial Hospital burn unit in Dallas. “I’m not going to lie to you; I honestly did not think I would make it home.”
And that’s when he saw one of his fellow firefighters collapse.
“Actually, the burns weren’t even hurting that much at that time. My thought was, ‘I got to get out of here, and I got to take whoever I can with me,’” Clark said.
That his injured son stopped to help another doesn’t surprise Robert Clark. This father is a Sweetwater policeman; his other son is a deputy. His brother, nephew and two of Matt’s in-laws are cops as well.
They all protect the public, never certain they’ll make it home.
“Proud doesn’t touch it; proud doesn’t touch it,” the elder Clark said.
But at this point, Matt Clark’s recovery is a struggle.
“We thought he’d get to go home today,” Robert Clark said, “but the wounds are deeper than they thought, so they are going to keep him; they are infected.”
Their thoughts also go to the Eastland firefighter who perished, just about a mile down the smoky road.
“We realize we were lucky,” Matt’s dad said. “There’s a family in Eastland that wasn’t. Maybe I can’t say it. Our hearts are hurting for them.”
Matt Clark will be hospitalized for at least another week. He has skin graft surgery scheduled for Wednesday.
Republished with permission from WFAA.