JACKSON, Miss. --
Weeks after getting burned, a Jackson firefighter is speaking out. Richard Taylor was badly burned fighting a fire at an abandoned church and was still in a Memphis hospital Wednesday.
"It's not often that you get a second chance at life," Taylor said.
He said the scene inside the church was more hellish than holy.
"The thick smoke was so black you couldn't see an inch in front of your face," Taylor said.
It was still difficult Taylor to talk about the night he was injured.
"I had to get on my hands and knees because it was so hot," Taylor said. "I just heard the crackling of the fire and I could see an orange glow in the distance."
The massive fire that broke out at the abandoned McDowell Road Baptist Church in late October.
Taylor, a year and a half vet of the fire department, was injured while searching the inside of the building for possible victims.
Trouble began when he got disoriented and passed out from heat exhaustion.
"I prayed, 'Well Lord, take care of my life and family.' I never thought you'd get disoriented and stuck in a place like this, but I said, 'If you'd send someone, an angel up to get me, if this is not my time to go I'd appreciate it,'" Taylor said.
With less than three minutes worth of air in his air pack, those angels, two fellow firefighters pulled Taylor out of the fire.
"If they got me out 35 to 45 seconds later I'd be dead," Taylor said.
Now Taylor sits in this Memphis Burn Center recovering with bandages covering many of his third-degree burns.
On Monday, doctors used skin from this part of Taylor's leg and placed sections of it on the worst of his burns. It's a tough process to go through and helping him along the way is his sister Teri.
"We knew it's a risk you take when you sign up for a job like that, but you're never prepared to get a call," Teri Taylor said.
Cards and messages from his wife and two children in the Jackson area are also helping Taylor get through.
Despite it all, Taylor said he has one wish: to get back to work soon.
"It's something you never hope happens, but just because it does, doesn't mean you don't pick up. You do your job and I love it and I love helping people," Taylor said.
Doctors said Taylor may be able to leave the hospital as early as this Friday, and firefighters said they hope to be dining with him next Friday
Next Friday, the Jackson association of Firefighters will host a Barbeque cookout fundraiser from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Smith Park on Amite Street.
They said they will sell lunches for $6 and will accept donations on Taylor's behalf.
