TRENTON - A volunteer Falls Township, Pa., firefighter who helped carry an unconscious woman from a killer apartment fire early Tuesday has been fired from his day job after revealing he suffered a hernia in the rescue effort.
Dustin Zeek, 23, of the Falls Township Fire Department, and other firefighters pulled Wesley McKinnon, 21, and his girlfriend, Whitney Sanders, out of their burning, smoky unit at Colonial Gardens at 490 Plaza Blvd. in Morrisville, Pa.
(McKinnon on Thursday died in Temple University Hospital's intensive burn-care unit, where Sanders was in stable condition last night.)
"Due to me helping take the victim out of the fire, I suffered a hernia," Zeek told The Trentonian yesterday.
"I realized it the next morning. And I went to work, and I worked a full day Wednesday."
Zeek said he didn't know what a hernia was - "it felt like cramps," he said - while he was at his job as a fire extinguisher technician with J. W. Kennedy Inc., a fire protection company at 536 Perry St. in Trenton.
"So I went and checked with the (Falls) firehouse after work, and they sent me to the hospital, and the hospital put me out on light duty, so I was able to attend fire classes," Zeek said.
Under light duty, he isn't allowed to lift anything over 5 pounds nor allowed to bend and twist and squat. Fire extinguishers, which he handles during worksite inspections, weigh 20 pounds.
The next day, Zeek turned the hospital paperwork in at J.W. Kennedy, "and they told me there is no light duty; unfortunately, we have to get rid of you," he said.
He quoted company owner Jack Kennedy as telling him, "I'm sorry that I have to do this, but we're going to have to let you go. We spoke to our attorneys, and our attorneys stated that if you were to hurt yourself worse, at work, then we're liable for getting sued. There is no light-duty for this business, so in that case we're going to have to let you go."
"And he gave me a letter," Zeek said.
The letter states Zeek could be rehired when he is healthy again - if a job opened existed at that time (see the complete letter in the sidebar).
"I asked, 'Are you allowed to do that?' being I am on Workman's Comp? And that's when he said, 'My attorneys advised me that I can.' "
Zeek said Workman's Comp pays him for all the time he's out of work and his medical bills. The company is supposed to hold his position until he's healthy again, he said. "And instead, they fired me. By law they're not allowed to fire me."
Kennedy told The Trentonian he's not responsible for injuries suffered by a volunteer fireman at a fire job and noted that Zeek is covered by Workman's Comp through the Falls Township Fire Company for those injuries.
Kennedy also said that if Zeek were allowed to continue work at J.W. Kennedy, he could become more seriously injured there, and then he would be responsible.
Would the reporter take on that responsibility, that liability, Kennedy asked? If so, he said he would be glad to have Zeek on the job. "Would you want to be liable?" he asked again.
A reporter tried to ask whether a fireman who heroicly helped save a life shouldn't catch a break, but Kennedy cut in: "Don't pull that on me. I'm with the Yardley-Makefield Fire Company - I'm a firefighter myself."
Zeek said he faces surgery within two weeks, and will likely be out of work an additional month with the healing process.