He suffered a second-degree burn on his eyelid and an inflamed iris that caused temporary blindness
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — An intense burning sensation came first. Then 18-year-old Scott Beckwith realized that he couldn't see out of his right eye.
It was just before midnight on Saturday, and Beckwith was volunteering with Dallas Fire-Rescue's Explorer program when firefighters responded to help people who had been burned by illegal fireworks at a southern Dallas apartment complex.
He was walking with a female burn victim when an unknown man walked up and launched a "mortar shell" firework at him from 20 feet away. It exploded five feet from him, burning the right side of his face.
He was rushed to Baylor University Medical Center with a second-degree burn on his eyelid and an inflamed iris that caused temporary blindness. He was able to close his eye before he suffered structural damage, and his vision came back the next morning.
He did, however, lose half an eyebrow and his eyelashes on the right side.
On Tuesday, he was happy to have escaped a worse injury.
Beckwith joined the Explorer program in January, and when the Fourth of July holiday rolled around, there was nowhere he wanted to be other than tagging along with the men and women he aspires to be.
"It was a good day to get experience and I knew it would be busy," he said.
Billy Robinson — Explorer coordinator and a battalion chief at Station 28, where Beckwith volunteers — says the program is meant to give young aspiring firefighters a chance to see if it's what they really want to do.
Volunteers get months of training in the self-paced program before they are allowed to go out with a crew. Volunteers are allowed to complete blood pressure checks, hold firehoses and do other low-risk tasks. They must be CPR-certified.
This was the first incident involving an injury to a volunteer since the program's inception eight years ago, Robinson said.
If caught, the suspect faces a charge of aggravated assault on a public servant.
Beckwith is headed for Baylor University this fall and hopes to study pre-medicine or nursing. He goes on 24-hour shifts with the fire crew once a week and hopes to get back on the rotation this week.
The teen said he has always wanted to be a firefighter and won't be deterred by this incident.
"It makes me want to do it even more," he said. "I love helping people, even though there's risk involved."
No comments:
Post a Comment