Riverdale Fire Chief Hopes For Quick Recovery

It’s been three months since

But Ryan already wants to get back to work, although he still has a few more months of healing and therapy to complete.

“I can’t wait for the moment to get back and get dressed in my gear and go help people and fight fires,” he said.

Ryan, who celebrated 10 years with DCFD the day he was injured, has volunteered with the Riverdale Fire Company since he was 16.

On Tuesday, he spent the day hanging out at the before heading home to spend time with his family.

Although he was released from the hospital over Memorial Day Weekend, he has since been attending regular physical therapy and heading to the gym to regain the strength he lost while staying in the hospital for nearly two months.

Ryan, who suffered burns on 40 percent of his body, including his hands, back and legs, spent a month recovering in the Burn Center at the Washington Hospital Center, and then was moved into a regular hospital room for another three weeks.

Although he was the firefighter that suffered the most burns from his D.C. fire company, with who he was called to rescue people from that April fire, Ryan said he feels like others have suffered too, including his family and the family of the other firefighters who spent days worrying about their loved ones and sacrificing their time to care for others.

Last week, The Washington Examiner reported that District fire investigators arrested a 26-year-old man in connection with the fire that sent Ryan and the others to the hospital.

Maurice Timothy Dews was charged with arson and felony destruction for three different fires at various properties in Northeast Washington. Investigators told the Examiner they believe Dews is a serial arsonist.

“I’m glad the arsonist got caught,” Ryan said, “so he can’t hurt anymore people.”

Ryan Remembers the Fire

When Ryan and the other firefighters from Rescue 3 heard the call about a fire at 813 48th Place in Northeast D.C. shortly after 12:30 a.m. the dispatcher reported that people were evacuating the building.

“My soul job is to search for victims,” Ryan said. When he got to the house, he and another firefighter went into the house together to search for occupants with another pair of firefighters.

Ryan said he started to do his search and canvassed the house for people, from the kitchen to the bathroom of the one-story home.

“It was smoky and hot in there,” Ryan said, later noting it got as hot as 2,300 degrees in the home. “When we got to the back of the house, we realized that was where the fire was and we didn’t have a hose line, we were in the dining room and we new we had to get out.”

As he and the others turned to make their way back out, everything in their immediate area ignited, creating a flash over – like those scenes from the movies where everything blows up and burns.

“We crawled on our stomachs to get out and I kept thinking to myself, ‘I have the training and experience not to give up and die in this house,’” Ryan said.

As he continued to fight for his life, he could feel the heat and his gear began to melt as well, including his breathing mask. He quickly covered his airway with his hands, to protect his lungs, as the others looked for the front door.

“It was the worst pain I ever felt in my life,” Ryan said.

Finally, one of the firefighters fell in the direction of the door and told them how to get there, just as the roof of the house began to collapse.

When Ryan got outside, his gloves were completely gone.

In shock, Ryan said he didn’t realize how bad it was until he got into the ambulance and they rushed him to the hospital.

Ryan recovers, says love and support helped

When he awoke in the hospital, Ryan looked at his hands.

“I asked my wife how she was doing and if she ate,” Ryan remembered. “I then asked her is I could go back to work.”

Ryan said at the time his wife didn’t really know if he would return to fighting fires, but told him yes to keep his spirits up.

That helped Ryan get through the recovery, including seven operations.

“All the support I had from the DCFD and members of the Riverdale Park Fire Department helped too,” Ryan said, noting that someone was always in the room. “It just made me think, I work with the greatest department in the country.”

He said the experience was touching to have all the support and the DC Burn Foundation was phenomenal. He said the doctors and nurses were amazing as well.

Not once in his two month stay at the hospital did Ryan have to eat hospital food because members of his fire companies brought him lunch and dinner daily, even enough for the friends and families in the waiting room.

They also supported his wife, 21-year-old son, TJ and 15-year-old daughter, Shelby, during this time, even taking Shelby to her softball games while Ryan’s wife cared for him

“Over 450 meals were delivered while I was there,” he said.

“I have no way to really repay that besides saying thank you.”

He said he doesn’t have any hesitation regarding his future as a firefighter and instead loves his job and appreciates his life, family and firefighters brothers even more.

“This is a life experience that people don’t live through,” Ryan said. “Everyday is a gift. I don’t get worked up over the little things now.”

With a new lease on life, Ryan hopes to volunteer with the organization that helped him through this time in his life, perhaps as a volunteer chaperone at burn camps the organization hosts throughout the country.

“For some reason or another I have a chance to live another day," Ryan said.

Watch Ryan's interview with Fox 5 here.