NEW YORK (PIX11)—Two firefighters responding to a Crown Heights fire in an apartment that was home to a family of five suffered extensive second and third degree burns are now recuperating at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center Burn Unit.
One is up and moving but the other, firefighter Robert Wiedmann, will take up to a year for his burns to fully heal.
It left Weidmann with second and third degree burns on fifty-percent of his body.
Douglas Wiedmann, his brother, read a statement in the hospital's conference room whith a dozen members of the press eagerly awaiting wordon the condition of the hero firefighter.
"He's an excellent husband, father, son and uncle and our hero," Douglas stated simply, highlighting the parts of his brother Robert's life that are truly important.
And he bragged a little too. Of his brother's strength. "He worked out all the time. He's fit. He could carry all three of his kids on one arm, not a problem."
That type of physical strength, combined with his own mental fortitude has so far carried the man through several painful days of recuperation without needing to be placed into a medically induced coma, as is so frequent in severe burn cases like these to ease a patient's suffering.
Dr. Robert Yurt heads the burn unit at New York Presbyterian, where most firefighters are brought once they've been burned in a fire. He updated Wiedmann's condition byntalking aout the future, "We are planning to start surgery tomorrow. Then over 6-8 weeks, we will have about one surgery per week. It's a long road to recovery."
Blood donations for Wiedmann can be made through the New York Blood Center at 800-439-6876. His patient number is 203859 and his file number is 71614.
Also wounded in Monday's fire was 52 year old James Gersbeck, who has 25 years on the job. He escaped by diving out the front door of the brownstone.
Dr. Yurt explained, "Gersbeck is in fair condition with a mix of 2nd and 3rd burns. They are smaller than Wiedmann's and will most likely heal on their own. He's already up and moving around his room."
But Wiedmann's burns will take at least a year to heal. Burns heal from the outside in, and third degree burns go to the deepest layers of the skin. It will take many long and extremely painful days ahead of surgeries and skin grafts.
Dr. Yurt elaborated on the process, "With skin grafts, you usually use the patient's skin. But when you have burns on over half the body, there is not enough of the patient's own skin. So we turn to allografts, or donor skin. We put that on in surgery, wait a few days for it to start to heal, then remove the graft and let the patient's own skin fill. You just keep doing that until they grow more and replace all the grafts."
His brother explained how he is already communicating with his family, even though he's on a respirator, which means he has a tube in his throat and cannot talk. He is able to mouth words, and also uses a board of letters, pointing to each one to spell out full sentences. All of his children have been to the hospital to visit him.
Now that he's talking, his main concern is for his family. The questions he asks are about them. How are they doing. It brought his brother to tears just to speak of it.
While the firefighters have gotten a tremendous amount of support from fellow firefighters, what Wiedmann truly needs at this time is blood donations. The FDNY will help organize several blood drives.