A volunteer firefighter was welcomed home Wednesday after spending more than a month in a D.C. hospital for treatment of burns he sustained during a massive house explosion and fire in Loudoun County, Virginia.
That incident at a Sterling home killed one firefighter and injured 11 others on Feb. 16.
Brian Diamond, a volunteer with the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company, is the last firefighter to be released from the hospital following last month’s explosion, according to the department.
His first stop: the Sterling Fire Station 618 on Middlefield Drive where he was greeted by members of his crew and other first responders. Well-wishers formed a receiving line.
Speaking to reporters, Diamond said the outpouring of support was “overwhelming.”
“When I was in the ICU, those were some times where I just didn’t have any idea what was going on with me. We didn’t know how many surgeries it was going to be and everything like that, and it ended up being five,” he said. “The doctors were great and they took care of me, and the nurses over there, I can’t even tell you how awesome they are. And it was just a good experience overall for what I had to go through.”
Diamond also teaches eighth grade English at J. Michael Lunsford Middle School in Loudoun County. He said he hasn’t yet had a chance to speak with his students.
“But if I had to say something to them: ‘I’m here. I made it.’ And I’m looking forward to seeing them soon,” Diamond told reporters.
Firefighters responded to the house in the 300 block of Silver Ridge Drive for a report of a gas leak at around 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16. The explosion happened while the firefighters were inside, according to the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal’s Office.
“There’s no other explanation that I could’ve gotten out of that entire ordeal except for God,” Diamond said. “I was down in that basement and I said a prayer and God got me out of that. And there’s no other way that I could have escaped that. It was crazy down there and terrifying and … I don’t know. I had moments of clarity after saying prayers and thinking about my wife and my kids.”
Investigators said the blast was the result of a leak in a 500-gallon underground propane tank, which was set off by an unknown ignition source.
Diamond sustained severe burns during the incident, according to Thomas Owens, a former chief of the Sterling department.
After getting some well wishes Wednesday, the fire company gave Diamond an escort back to his house.
Volunteer firefighter Trevor Brown, 45, was killed in the explosion, leaving behind his wife Laura and their three children. A service was held in his honor earlier this month.
“Trevor … I loved Trevor. We had just started bonding together as a unit and everything and we a dinner a couple weeks before up here and his kids were there and our kids were there,” Diamond said. “It’s really, really unfortunate. I’m very sad about everything that happened with Trevor. … I really am going to miss him, too. Because he’s a great guy.”
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