Laramie Firefighter Crushed In House Fire Determined To Make A Full Recovery

From the moment an on-the-job accident all but ruined Laramie firefighter Dylan Schilt’s body, he’s been determined to get back the full use of it.

“Ever since being in the accident, even when I was laying there, covered in rocks, I always felt that I was going to walk again,” Schilt told Cowboy State Daily during a telephone interview Thursday from an in-patient physical therapy center in Denver.

Schilt, 32, was crushed when a massive stone fireplace chase collapsed on him and another firefighter responding to a report of heavy smoke in a rural Albany County house on Feb. 28.

He suffered a broken back, shattered ankle and collapsed lung, and was left temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. 

The other firefighter suffered a severe knee injury.

Don’t Tell Him He Can’t Do It

Now roughly a month after the accident, Schilt’s goal is to not only walk, but get back to hunting, mountain biking and the other outdoors activities he loves. 

And he’s also bound and determined to return to work as a firefighter.

“There’s been times in my career I’ve thought about quitting. But nothing makes me want to do it more than being told I can’t do it,” said Schilt. 

That stubbornness is just part of his personality, he said.

“I’m not much of a sitting-around, doing nothing person,” Schilt said. “Yeah, I’m not usually good at taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

‘I Felt My Back Break And My Legs Go Numb’

Like any firefighter, Schilt was well-aware of the inherent risks of the job and how quickly things can go wrong.

And things went badly fast on Feb. 28, when he and the other firefighter entered the house, trying to determine where the smoke was coming from.

They surmised it was coming from the chimney, and decided the best course of action was to put a hole in the stone chase around it, so water could be sprayed inside. 

A crew on the outside of the house also planned to punch a hole from that side, he added. 

The room had a high, vaulted ceiling, “probably 16 feet up,” but because of the smoke, he and his partner couldn’t see more than a few feet above their heads.

Then stones started falling from the top of the chase.

“My partner turned to walk away at an angle. I was standing right in front of it (the chimney) facing it,” Schilt said.

“When I started seeing the whole chase fall, I had just enough time to put my head down, and it hit me in the back of the head and across my back,” he said.

“I felt my back break and my legs go numb, and I knew I was paralyzed before I hit the ground,” he added.

‘Mayday’

After the collapse, Schilt was practically buried in rock, stuck in place. 

“I asked my partner if he was OK, and all I heard was some moans,” he said.

“My right hand was free and I was able to reach over to my left side where my radio was. I called ‘mayday’. That’s about all I could get out, ‘mayday,’” he said.

“After I sent the second ‘mayday’ was when I heard the front door open and my officer (incident commander) came in,” Schilt said.

He heard a brief exchange between the commander and the other firefighter, “something along the lines of, ‘You’re going to have to get yourself out, because I have to go find Dylan,’” he said.

His commander quickly pulled the rocks off him and started dragging him out.

“I kept getting snagged on the way out; it took him a while to get me out, Schilt said. “I was worried about my spinal cord stretching, but the only pain I had was right at the break site in my back.”

The Long Road Back

In the hospital during the first few days after the accident there was “a lot of tests and MRIs,” Schilt said.

Doctors determined that his spinal cord hadn’t been severed. But it had some bruising and scarring on it that was hampering nerve signals.

Then the long road to recovery began.

At first, Schilt had to learn how to use a wheelchair, and how to get himself between his bed and the wheelchair.

Feeling soon started returning to his right side. But there was some worry because his left side remained numb.

Finally, some feeling started returning to his left side last Tuesday. Schilt said that was a huge turning point for him.

He’s been doing several hours of physical therapy a day, focusing mostly on learning to walk and balance again, and strengthening atrophied muscles. 

His initial target date to return to Laramie and start out-patient physical therapy was May 8. But because of his determined progress, that was pushed back to April 17. 

And as far as Schilt is concerned, missing that mark isn’t an option.

“My brothers and my dad and I have a turkey hunt in the Buffalo area scheduled for April 18, and I need to be there,” he said.

‘The Support Has Been Huge’

Schilt said his accident and recovery have brought him an appreciate for the ties that bind together first responders, as well as good people in general.

“The support has been huge. I’ve been contacted from departments all over the country, and especially from Wyoming and Colorado,” he said. 

The experience has made him keenly aware of the camaraderie between first responders.

“The whole ‘brotherhood’ thing, I never really felt until I went through this,” he said.

Aaron Veldheer, chief deputy of operations with Laramie County Sheriff's Office, told Cowboy State Daily that emergency personnel across Albany and Laramie counties are pulling for Schilt.

“Even though cops and firefighters love picking on each other, we each still have great respect for what the other does,” he said. “We respect how dangerous being a firefighter is.”

Laramie County first responders have organized a fundraising dinner for Schilt, set for 5:30-8 p.m. Friday at Station 72 in Cheyenne.

In addition to being a firefighter, Schilt has served as a medic for area SWAT teams, and Veldheer said he’s worked with Schilt in that capacity.

Organizing the fundraiser and other support for Schilt has resonated with emergency personnel in both counties, Veldheer said.

“I think it’s the right thing to do. In this state, you’re only seven people removed from knowing everybody else in the state,” he said. 

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.