FORT WORTH, Texas — One of the four firefighters hospitalized in Tuesday morning's fire engine wreck in Fort Worth was hurt on the job three years prior when the burning roof of a vacant building collapsed on him.
Clint Robinson, 42, was responding to the call in early September 2020 in east Fort Worth when the accident occurred, his then-captain and longtime friend Ryan Zelazny told WFAA.
“The hardest part is seeing the guy that you live with and do everything with daily at the fire station not moving,” Zelazny said at the time.
On Wednesday, Robinson's friends said they expected doctors would release him from JPS after two days of treatment following another on-the-job injury, this time sustained when the fire engine he was riding crashed while responding to a call.
"When somebody’s down or somebody’s hurt, we do come together," said Zac Shaffer, the Vice President of the Fort Worth Firefighters Association, who was among those holding vigil at the hospital. "I think of us as a family."
Shaffer said the neck surgery Robinson underwent Wednesday went well. The prognosis for Daniel Terrell, one of the other four firefighters injured in the wreck, was less clear.
"We’re still waiting for some results on long-term ramifications on his injuries and how he’ll be able to recover from those," Shaffer said.
Terrell sustained injuries to his head that kept him in critical condition in the ICU, he said. The other two firefighters injured were treated and released, the department said.
Schaffer said he knows Robinson and Terrell's families both want the home to recover, but he believes both will eventually return to work.
"I don't think that even after this Clint will have a minute's hesitation or Danny would have a minute's hesitation to do it again," he said. "That's just how it goes."
