A Missouri firefighter was injured when he was struck by debris while battling a fire that broke out at a mosque and grocery store Monday.
Crews from multiple departments responded to a fire at the African Grocery Store and Mosque in Noel, KOAM-TV reports. During the call, Lt. Blake Barrett of the Noel Fire Department was struck by a beam, which injured his spine.
“What had happened was one of the beams across the window or the door over here on the main building had fallen and it struck him right at the top of his helmet, smashed his helmet," said Chief Brandon Barrett, who is Blake's father, told KOAM. "You know, I mean pretty much it saved his life."
While the helmet might have kept him alive, Blake Barrett, 22, still suffered a thoracic compression fracture in his fifth, seventh and eighth vertebrae. The injury means he will need to wear a brace for the next six to eight weeks.
"He did not enjoy being on that stretcher let me tell you. He did not want to be there by any means," Mandy Barrett, Blake's mother and president of the Noel Fire Department auxiliary, told KOAM.
The family will be contacting a neurosurgeon for Blake, who planned to start the police academy next month. In a social media post that accompanied a photo of Blake's dented helmet, Mandy Barrett revealed her son's biggest irritations concerning the injury.
"He is most upset about his now out-of-commission helmet and the Police Academy coming up in January (he keeps repeating these to us)," she wrote.
But Mandy Barrett is grateful that her son has a damaged helmet and not a more serious injury. She also is grateful that her husband continually drills the importance of protective equipment into his firefighters.
“That’s something that my husband, Brandon, is very adamant about for all of them is when you’re on a fire scene you will wear your gear, you will gear up no matter what it is, and I’m thankful for that," she told KOAM.
