How the Fire Department REALLY Saved Me

My high school years were principally filled with cars--fixing and driving them--but a scant month out of high school, my world was turned upside down. I was burned at age 18 in a propane explosion. I was burned over 90% percent of my body, a mix of full thickness, partial, and superficial thermal burns, and on arrival at the burn center was given a 50/50 chance for survival.

One of the consistent and recurring thoughts while lying in the hospital was my recent ambulance trip to the center, which included a medivac helicopter trip courtesy of the United States Coast Guard. EMS and medicine in general were all new to me, but my thought was I owed so much to those who saved me, and I wanted to pay it back.

After surviving the burn injuries and two months in the intensive care burn unit, and of course the requisite two years of physical rehabilitation, I was eventually able to sign up for my local EMS agency and begin another leg of my journey, this time in emergency services, but my involvement in automotive technology was not history yet.

Prior to being caught up in the propane incident, I was a graduate of not only high school, but General Motors tech schools, with a keen interest in automotive technology, but my love of all things involving internal combustion however ran head long into a severe psychological roadblock.

I had emotionally connected any involvement in fixing automobiles with the imminent danger of a flash fire or another explosion. After months at home, I did eventually attempt to go back to work in a commercial auto repair shop and found a kind and understanding shop owner who gave me a shot. It all came to naught when one day, while working under an automobile, the fear simply became overwhelming and I had a meltdown. I could not continue. I feared everything, everything that could potentially explode.

This meltdown occurred shortly before my acceptance into the volunteer ambulance service. While my involvement in the EMS agency often had rough spots, it opened yet another door for me. My EMS agency was a division of the community’s fire service and as such I was frequently around the fire station.

For whatever reason, the members of the fire department saw something within me that impressed them, and they encouraged me to also join the fire department proper, which I did. It may seem like the most unlikely of scenarios, but somehow, taking the fight back to the fire ignited in me a pathway to terminate my pervasive fears of fire mishaps and explosions! Inexplicable, even to me at the time, but having a charged hose line supplied from a fire engine and the skills to use it made me a warrior, a combatant, not a victim, not just a survivor who beat the odds but a “fire-fighter.”

My fears, while not totally vanquished, became rational. I learned about fire, every aspect. Like a detective on the trail of a criminal I absorbed every scrap of intel on my subject. Understanding fire, understanding propane, understanding the nature of these mishaps helped me to rationalize my latent fears in an objective way that no amount of therapy had helped me achieve.

In what could only be described as a profound irony, my first fire call was, of all things, a propane fed roofing tar trailer (sometimes called a “tar-kettle”)! I can clearly recall the feeling of being next to that burning tar kettle with a charged hose line and the thought running through my mind of “what am I doing here?”

I do not know what others thought of the sight of me, dressed in turnout gear, the person in that turnout gear being a survivor of months in the burn center, months of endless and painful dressing changes and the aforementioned physical therapy. If others within the department had doubts, I rarely, if ever heard them.

I still repair cars, trucks, and motorcycles, but usual just my own now. I now have 40 years in the fire and EMS service fixing other people’s emergencies and caring for my neighbors on their worst days, I served as fire chief within my department and teach emergency service training classes full time, including authoring five peer reviewed education articles (including one on burn injuries). I am still endlessly fascinated with all things related to the fire service and EMS.

I continue to pay back that debt of gratitude for the people who stepped up for me that day so long ago!

In 1978, Douglas Haviland was injured nearly a month to the day after his high school graduation. The incident occurred when an underground propane storage tank had a massive leak, and the propane had no odorant. After years of recovery, Douglas became an EMT and rode with Emergency Medical Services. He also became a firefighter and moved through the ranks, reaching Chief of Department in 1991. Since that time, Douglas has become a Level 2 Fire Service Instructor (the highest NJ level) through the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety. He is also a lead EMT instructor and has organized, managed, and taught hundreds of EMT basic programs. Check out his YouTube channel Wheelchair Rescue.