An Atlanta firefighter injured working a blaze in Buckhead last week was wheeled out of Grady Memorial Hospital on Monday looking forward to going home to his family and petting his dog.
Firefighter Spurgeon Putnam, who fell 20 feet off a roof, told Channel 2 Action News it was a "miracle" that he was able to walk and only had soft tissue damage.
“It was a scary ordeal, I’m glad I’m alive,” Putnam told the news station.
Putnam said he and his crew had cleared the fire while working on the roof of the Victoria apartments in the 3500 block of Roswell Road when the mishap happened.
“I knelt down to catch my breath because I got a little dizzy and the next thing I knew I was rolling off the roof,” he told the station.
Another firefighter, Josh Martinson, was also injured fighting the fire. He was treated for burned shoulders and released from the hospital Thursday.
Assistant Fire Chief Chris Wessels said Thursday that the two men were working on the roof during a ventilation operation, which is "one of the most dangerous things our guys do."
Putnam wasn’t sure when he would return to work. He thanked the community for their missives of support and said his spirits had been buoyed over the last five days by firefighters walking through his hospital room door.
“We’re like a big family,” he said.
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