The family of a Florida firefighter is suing after he was disabled responding to a massive gas station explosion a decade ago.
In 2011, St. Augustine firefighter Michael Riley was part of the response to a blast caused by vapors and heat from a fuel truck making a delivery at a gas station, WJXT-TV reports. According to Riley's family lawsuit, which was filed in March, exposure to toxic fumes during the call led to the firefighter later suffering several neurological disorders, as well as being unable to walk or speak clearly.
“We cook his meals for him,” Lani Riley, Michael's wife, told WJXT. “We have to help him eat, we have to help him use the restroom, we have to do physical therapy-type things with him.”
The family is suing the fuel truck driver, his employer at the time and the gas station owner. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the gas station and fuel truck company, Florida Rock and Tank Lines, following the incident, saying that it had found that the companies had refilled an above-ground storage tank despite a broken fuel gauge.
Riley—a firefighter for over three decades—had been with the St. Augustine Fire Department for nearly eight years. In 2016, he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, encephalopathy, and Parkinsonism, and he could no longer work as a firefighter.
“Firefighters are not disposable,” Lani Riley said. “When something happens to them, we should not turn our back and pretend like we don’t see it. If they get sick and they get hurt, we know that they are always going to be there for us. It just feels like we should be the same we should be there for them.”
