One of the four LaGrange firefighters who were taken to an Atlanta hospital after battling a house fire has been moved to a burn center in Augusta, a city spokeswoman said Wednesday.
However, the firefighter’s identity was not released, spokeswoman Katie Mercer Van Schoor said.
The firefighters were battling a house fire Monday afternoon when “everything went south on them,” a deputy chief said.
As a result, four were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with severe burns.
Pete Trujillo and Jordan Avera received second-degree burns, while Joshua Williams and Jonathan Williamson had third-degree burns, according to a city news release.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Two other firefighters, Jim Ormsby and Sean Guerrero, had minor injuries. They returned to work Wednesday.
The firefighters responded about 3 a.m. to a house fire on Revis Street after a resident called 911. LaGrange is about 67 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta.
While the crews were battling the blaze, a “flash-over situation” occurred and everything in the home quickly went up in flames at the same time, Deputy Chief John Brant said.
"We were just trapped inside,” Brant said, “and had to find a way out."
The homeowner, Kenneth Lakes, said he got all four of his stepchildren and his girlfriend out before crews arrived. It wasn’t easy.
"The kids didn’t believe it at first when we were like, 'Wake up! The house is on fire!’ ” he said. “I had to pull one out because he was still kind of asleep."
No other injuries were reported.
“Please keep the firefighters that were injured and their families in your prayers,” the LaGrange Fire Department said in a Facebook post. “This is something we are not accustomed to, having our own with injuries of this extent.”
A GoFundMe page was set up to help with expenses, with a $25,000 goal. It had raised more than $11,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
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