CONNEAUT, Ohio-- A veteran Conneaut firefighter was seriously injured while fighting a lake bank fire on Burrington Heights early Tuesday night.
John LaBounty, assistant battalion chief at Fire Station 4, suffered abrasions and at least one fracture when he fell from a retaining wall at the scene, according to reports. LaBounty was being examined at UH Conneaut Medical Center at presstime, and it was not immediately known if he would be transferred to another hospital.
The injury occurred after firefighters had contained a blaze reported shortly after 6:30 p.m. over the bank that bottoms out at the Lake Erie shore, said Nick Colby, Station 4 battalion chief.
"At that point, the fire was pretty much out," he said.
LaBounty was carrying a foam-generating device in hopes of attacking a stubborn, smoldering patch from a different angle, Colby said. As he approached the edge of a retaining wall, he apparently lost his footing, slid on gravel and tumbled over the wall.
LaBounty fell about 10 feet onto a gravel access road. He reportedly fractured his left wrist and possibly an ankle, Colby said. He also suffered abrasions when he struck the gravel, he said.
An ambulance was called to the scene, and LaBounty was brought up the steep bank aboard a special, one-wheeled stretcher designed to carry injured people over rough terrain.
Many anxious members of Fire Station 4, located on North Amboy Road, gathered at the hospital after learning of LaBounty's injury.
"Everybody's been here (to visit)," Colby said. "They were told to stay at the station, but they couldn't wait."
The injury was one of the most serious to befall a Station 4 member since Colby has been with the station, he said. "We've had a couple of scratches and sutures here and there, but nothing like this," he said.
Firefighters are speculating the blaze was started by a light refracting through a glass bottle found near the point of ignition, Colby said. The fire apparently wasn't ignited by a human hand, he said.
The fire threatened, but did not damage, a nearby storage shed, Colby said. A house at the top of the bank was not occupied at the time, he said.
LaBounty, Station 4's second-in-command, has logged more than 25 years' service at the North Amboy Road firehouse.
Republished with permission of The Star Beacon.
