The Oneida Fire Department has been operating without one of their members for nearly a month.
Firefighter Mitch Dryer isn't able to work because he's in the hospital recovering.
He was injured while fighting a fire at the city lanes bowling alley in Oneida on April 22nd.
The ceiling collapsed and Mitch was trapped inside. He suffered third and fourth degree burns to the right side of his body.
His right arm was burned so badly that last week, Mitch had to have part of his arm amputated.
We sat down with Mitch's wife, Aimee, to talk about his recovery.
"He's looking forward to starting physical therapy and trying to get out of here, but his spirits are wonderful."
Aimee Dryer has remained by her husband's bedside since the beginning. She watched him come out of a medically induced coma, and was there after doctors removed part of his arm.
"He's just progressed so quickly. The doctors are amazed at how fast he's healing."
Besides the support from family, Mitch and Aimee have been bombarded with cards and letters from people around the country.
"He's overwhelmed by it all. He just can't believe the amount of support that he has."
Aimee says Mitch remembers a lot of what happened that Sunday morning at the city lanes bowling alley.
Five weeks later, Mitch is still recovering after being burned from the neck down.
"He didn't have use of the last two digits of his hand and we didn't know the extent of his first three digits so it was something we had to decide."
They decided to amputate and Aimee says Mitch is doing much better.
Aimee predicts Mitch will be in the hospital for another month. One day when he's better, she says he'll return to the fire department.
Oneida Fire, state fire investigators, and Oneida Police are still looking into how the fire started.
Republished with permission of WSYR-TV.
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