Jan. 18--Knoxville Fire Department Capt. Mark Lacey on Friday was released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center after suffering a heart attack while fighting a fire on New Year's Eve.
Assistant Chief Tony Grande picked him up to take him home, but Grande took the long way, passing several fire halls as well as department headquarters where Lacey's colleagues stood and waved as he passed.
Department spokesman D.J. Corcoran said firefighters learned Friday morning that Lacey was being released at 1:30 p.m.
"We wanted to pay tribute to Mark and let him know he is loved and respected," Corcoran said.
When Lacey arrived at Station 16 on Asheville Highway, Master Firefighter Ron Manis and others loaded him into the captain's seat of his fire engine and Manis drove him home.
"I can't describe what it was like to see him roll up to the fire hall and to be able put him in the captain's seat just to drive him home," Manis said. "It was great to just be able to drive him in the fire truck again."
Manis said firefighters had been going to see Lacey at the hospital everyday. They knew his prognosis was good, especially after he was taken off a ventilator, he said. Lacey was stricken while on the scene of a house fire at 5508 Dandyline Drive.
Manis said he has been with the department 13 years and seeing the response from firefighters throughout the department was a testament to how close everyone there is.
"We're together a lot, and it is a personal thing. It is like seeing someone in your family going down," he said.
Personnel stayed with Lacey constantly, he said.
"When he was in the intensive care unit, there were several of us there with him," Manis said. "We are individual firehouses and shifts, but this brought all that together and it was pretty amazing, to be honest with you."
The master firefighter said Lacey is the kind of person who doesn't like fanfare and is quiet and reserved.
"He was very grateful and probably bowled over by the attention, but he looked very good," Manis said. "He's obviously going to be very weak and tired. He has rehab to go through, but he looked good and we're ecstatic."
Copyright 2014 - The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.