Kelowna Fire Department captain Chris Zimmermann is ecstatic to be back on the job with his crew, more than two years after he was injured during a horrific blaze.
Zimmermann suffered second-degree burns on his legs, back, ear and hands while fighting a blaze at the Water’s Edge construction site July 8, 2017 – a day that started like any other, says Zimmermann.
Shortly after entering the structure with his crew, and the roof collapsing, Zimmermann was attempting to put out a mayday call when he was trapped in an explosion.
“We ran to the stairwell and I told them, “stay here. I just want to go down one floor and check.” I got a little visibility and could see down through the stairwell cracks, and I could see basically an explosion coming at me.
“I knew I was caught at that point, so I turned around and back up the stairs and I went to put out a mayday on my radio, but the mic had fallen off my coat. I knew I was caught so I just dumped my gloves fast, I lost visibility at that point with the smoke – everything happened pretty quick. I just dumped the gloves to find the radio to put out a mayday and then when I actually got it in my hand, the explosion blew me into the ceiling.
“I hit the ceiling and back down onto the floor … I just got my wits about myself. It was hot, my hands were on fire, I had no visibility again so I just felt around until I felt one of the stairs and started crawling.”
Zimmermann and his crew were rescued from the site by ladder, and despite spending more than two years recuperating and rehabilitating, he says he never doubted whether he would return to firefighting.
“I wanted to go back the next day. At first you’re not really sure how bad the injuries are and what the recovery is going to be like … I didn’t fully know how long that was going to take. It ended up taking about 15-16 months for the skin to grow back [on my hands] and they said once the skin had grown back, they had to do surgeries.”
Over the course of the last two and a half years, Zimmermann has undergone 13 surgeries. He still has more to go, but was cleared to return to work and has been back on the job since December.
It’s a great feeling to be back with the crew, he says, which includes more than 30 new faces since he was last there.
“I’ve been doing this for almost 21 years now. I’ve been in lots of fires, had lots of close calls, but it’s good to come back with that situation now and pass that onto the newer guys … it’s good to sit and talk to them and pass those experiences on. It felt good to get back in the truck with the crews and feel normal again.”
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