A Colorado fire investigator who was injured examining the scene of a residential fire in 2016 has died, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
Berthoud Fire District fire investigator Joshua MacDonald, 34, died April 17 from surgery complications, the Loveland Reporter-Herald reports. Following his injury, MacDonald faced increasing health issues and had his left leg amputated.
On March 25, 2016, MacDonald was part of the response to a house fire and performed EMS care on one of the occupants, the USFA said in an alert. He returned to the scene later to investigate and fell through the floor, his leg becoming tangled in electrical wiring.
Over the next years, MacDonald had more than 20 surgeries on his leg. His family told the Reporter-Herald that before his March 16, his health was improving, and he was entertaining the idea working at the fire station again.
But during the operation that was supposed to just clean up scar tissue, the surgeon removed 2 more inches of leg. Following the surgery, MacDonald began experiencing severe and painful knee tremors.
“After every surgery it just seemed to get worse,” MacDonald's mother, Lauryn, told the Reporter-Herald. “I’m trying to not be a hateful person but it’s hard. Because I blame those doctors for what I and my husband and my daughter went through.”
“You go in to have your leg amputated, it’s done in the battlefield all the time and these guys come back. What went wrong?” Norman added.
The family has received an outpouring of support from people whose lives MacDonald touched as a firefighter.
“That’s what a public servant is,” Lauryn MacDonald told the Reporter-Herald. “Your job is to protect and serve others and the man was doing that even when he wasn’t in uniform.”
