DALLAS — Two years ago, an explosion at Highland Hills Apartments in Dallas left three firefighters severely injured. They are still coping with their injuries to this day.
“It came in as a carbon monoxide leak,” Ron Hall said. “I just heard the force that the gas was coming out.”
Hall was a driver engineer with Dallas Fire-Rescue and dedicated 38 years to the department. He was working out of Station 25 when the call came in.
It was not carbon monoxide, but a natural gas leak. “We've made hundreds of gas calls through our career. Just unfortunately, that's the one that had to explode that day," said Hall.
On Sept. 29, 2021, the explosion sent flames and smoke in the air, destroying the apartment building and damaging several other buildings and cars around it.
Hall, Captain Chris Gadomski and Officer Pauline Perez were at the center of it all. The three were severely burned and hurt.
Hall thought his life was over.
He said, “I was in the doorway. So it kind of trapped me and I wasn't able to fly, but it just felt like it was just those torture drills where they try to rip you apart.”
“I look much better on the outside than the way I feel on the inside. But I'm thankful I get up every day in recovery,” he said.
The explosion left Hall with the front side of his body burnt from head to toe. His knee was fractured, his shoulder was torn, and he lives with a post-traumatic brain injury.
After two years, he’s had multiple surgeries. He has feeling back on his arms, but he is expecting shoulder and knee surgery in the future.
Hall currently lives with 30% impairment.
He made it a goal to return to work, but it wasn’t the same. Hall missed going on calls.
Hall officially retired on July 31, 2023. He said, “I think had it not been for the explosion, I probably would still be working because I do miss it. I don't think I was really ready to retire”
Hall looks back on his time as a firefighter with gratitude. “I had no regrets. You know, I got to do what I love and I love what I did.”