After surviving a massive explosion and fire earlier this month, some of the 12 Los Angeles firefighters who were injured are sharing their recovery online.
A photo of five members from Station 9, which responded to the incident at the smoke shop supply firm on May 16, was shared on various social media accounts, including the African American Firefighter Museum's Facebook page.
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"This brings joy to our hearts," the museum wrote in a post with the photo.
One of the most seriously injured firefighters was Capt. Victor Aguirre, who suffered third-degree burns on his hands. LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas said the father of two has lost the use of his hands.
“I have to say I am so impressed with Capt. Aguirre. He was the last one off the roof. He made sure all of his firefighters were down before he exited the roof," Terrazas told KTLA-TV.
A GoFundMe page was created for Aguirre. The campaign was set with a goal of $150,000, and it has raised more than $169,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
"I truly can’t thank you all enough for the love and support," organizer Matt Hennessy wrote in an update. "His family needed these donations more than you will ever know!"
Andrew Tom, one of the firefighters in the photo, also shared his personal experience of the call on Instagram. He described the fire "viciously" pinning him and his fellow firefighters to the floor, and an intense heat that "no one has ever felt before."
“I honestly thought it was the end," he wrote. "That 31 years was as far as I would reach. … Death felt closer now."
Tom made it out of the warehouse, but he initially couldn't bare to watch or read news coverage from that day. Eventually, it was a photo of himself taken May 15 following a training session near Echo Park Lake—a photo that he also shared on his Instagram account—that allowed him to relive the events of May 16.
"There I was smiling, unharmed, and alive with Echo Park looking beautiful behind me," he said.
Donations to help those injured May 16 can be given through the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, Local 112. Go to the organization's website for more information.
"We all survived that day," Tom wrote. "Though we suffered from incredible burns, we are all fortunate that we survived. Firefighters don't survive these types of explosions. … I expected to die in that fire. We all did and yet here we are."
