Southfield Firefighter Falls Through Floor
LATHRUP VILLAGE (WWJ) - A Southfield firefighter escaped serious injury, and possibly death, after the floor of a house on fire collapsed beneath him.
It happened Thursday morning in Lathrup Village.
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A 16-year veteran, Curtis Nelson was rescued by fellow firefighters from smoke and flames as they worked to put out the fire at the corner of Bloomfield and Glenview.
Nelson went inside the building on word that someone may have been inside. But, as he entered, the floor gave way and he fell into the basement.
Nelson told WWJ's Ron Dewey he "felt like Alice in Wonderland" on the way down, but he wasn't injured. In fact, he went right back to fighting the fire following the fall.
"While they were trying to go through and find a way to get me out... I was down there with some fire down there, so I started hitting the fire, knocked the fire out as best that I could," Nelson said.
Nelson said he knows it was a close call.
"I kinda of reflected on it a bit more afterwords. But, when you're actually going through and doing the job, it's a little different," he said.
The fire started in the basement and had been burning for some time, which weakened the floor that gave way.
The fire is under investigation.
