Wichita firefighter Paul Wiebe, who had a heart attack at the scene of a house fire Thursday morning, was recovering in fair condition at Via Christi Hospital St. Francis on Friday.
“Paul is alert, awake, happy, smiling and very, very grateful that he’s still with us,” said Wichita Fire Chief Ronald Blackwell, who visited Wiebe on Friday morning.
Wiebe, 54, suffered the heart attack after a fire at 11210 W. Neville was declared under control.
Blackwell said Wiebe reported having chest pain to a supervisor after he left the house.
Emergency personnel responded to the heart attack in a timely manner, Blackwell said. He also said the department is looking at the incident to see if it can improve how it deals with heart-related injuries at fire scenes.
“We’re always willing to adjust the training,” he said.
Blackwell said Wiebe was in great spirits.
“Seeing him smile like that was very good news, and I would suspect that he wouldn’t be in the hospital much longer,” he said.
The heart attack occurred at the site of one of six fires the department responded to over the past two days. No other injuries were reported.
Blackwell said the number of fires was a little high.
“Six over the course of this holiday is slightly unusual, but not terribly unusual,” he said.
———
©2015 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)
Visit The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.) at www.kansas.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
