Prayers for fallen Firefighter

When I get a call from Trey that starts with, "Kim, I'm ok, but I needed to let you know...so you don't worry", I try to remain calm so I can hear all that he has to say. First, his morning started off to a bang. He left Lockhart at 3:00 a.m. to return to Houston for work. While he was traveling on I-10 he noticed some people in the road, so he pulled over to see if he could help. He saw, what he said looked like a mangled deer. However, that was not the case. Instead it was one of the brothers of this group of individuals that had decided to lie in the middle of I-10 and was run over several times. After the state trooper arrived, he left and went on his way.

Later that evening, his station was dispatched to a 2-alarm fire. Trey and another colleague were cutting a hole in the roof when they heard the mayday alert. They quickly rushed down the ladder to assist in carrying out Captain Unruh from the burning home. The Captain is currently in critical condition. I ask that you keep Captain Unruh and his family in your prayers as he recovers.

Trey and the other firefighters went through a counseling session much like a roundtable discussion so they could all express their emotions and thoughts on the incident. One of the main things that the counselor stressed is not to do the "what if" scenario. Something, that I generally do, but know it doesn't help any situation. One of the firefighters had recently lost a good friend in an accident and asked "Why does God let this Happen?" One of the firefighters, who had attended seminary school, explained the "master plan" God has for each of us. The collaboration of the firefighters and prayers from others has proved that even in the worst of situations that the support brought together by people and the power of prayer can make a grim situation look bright.


Below is a newspaper article I found from the Houston Chronicle:


A firefighter remains in critical but stable condition in a hospital after he was injured while battling a two-alarm fire that destroyed a northeast Houston home Monday evening.

Capt. Darin Unruh suffered third-degree burns and smoke inhalation in the fire, which broke out about 7 p.m. at the home in the 3900 block of Linder, officials said.

Firefighter Dennis Valencia, who suffered first- and second-degree burns, was released overnight from Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.

"They're just great guys," Houston Fire Department District Chief John Smith said of the injured firefighters. "Both of them are real hard workers."

Officials are still trying to determine how the firefighters were hurt. Smith said it appears a section of the roof collapsed, sending a wave of flames and superheated gases toward the less-damaged back portion of the home where Unruh and Valencia were.

The flames gutted the front section of the small, wood-frame home. The intense heat scorched the overhanging branches of a neighbor's tree.

Unruh and Valencia went in through the back door after receiving reports that someone may have been trapped inside the burning home, Smith said.

"They knew that if (the trapped person) was back there, he had a chance to survive, and they were going after him," Smith said.

But three people in the house had actually escaped without injury before the fire crews arrived at the scene, HFD officials said.

According to a preliminary investigation, the fire may have started at an electrical outlet, District Chief Tommy Dowdy said.

Fire Department officials said it had been nearly a year since a firefighter suffered such a serious injury while fighting a fire.

After hearing about the injuries, Mayor Bill White went to the hospital to check on the firefighters and learn more about the blaze. At the hospital, dozens of firefighters, many of them off-duty, gathered in ambulance bays outside the emergency room, awaiting word of their two injured colleagues.

More than 100 firefighters have visited the hospital since the pair was admitted.

"Somewhere in your (firefighting) career, you're going to be injured. It's just part of the job," Smith said.

Unruh is assigned to HFD Station 39, 5810 Pickfair, and Valencia works at HFD Station 34, 3100 Laura Koppe