A firefighter with the Texarkana Fire Department suffered serious injuries, including a broken pelvis, a broken leg, several broken vertebrae and a punctured bladder after a cinder block wall collapsed on him during a fire fight.
According to local television station KSLA News 12, Dakota Huddleston, a driver/engineer with the department is listed in fair condition in the intensive care unit at University Health in Shreveport, Louisiana. Huddleston is also a volunteer fire chief in Bloomburg, Texas.
The television station reported that Huddleston was helping fight a fire at workshop at a Doddridge, Arkansas home when he was injured. Huddleston was briefly buried by debris and was dug out by other firefighters at the scene. Among those who witnessed the collapse was injured firefighter’s father, Dennis Huddleston, the former Bloomburg, Texas fire chief.
An official with the Doddridge Fire Department told the television station Huddleston had kicked in a door to try to gain entry, but quickly retreated as the wall collapsed on him.
Members of the Texarkana Fire Department are staying with the Huddleston family at the hospital around the clock and have rented rooms for the family at a nearby hotel.
