Four months later, Fire Chief Richard Ares is not sure what really happened the day he flew off a porch while fighting a fire in Templeton, landing on his back and fracturing his spine.
He only knows for sure that he is lucky. His back was repairable. The back of his head required 10 staples but it has healed. However, there are always the what ifs. He fell eight feet off the porch, landing in the driveway. He said it could have been worse.
"I'm convinced that had I been wearing an air tank I would have snapped my neck," he said.
Chief Ares will be back as head of the city's Fire Department on Sunday, although he will not be in his office officially until Monday. He said his desk is covered with mail but after he gets that sorted, he has no concerns about going back to fighting fires.
Doctors have cleared him to return to his regular duties without restriction, but he will continue with physical therapy for minor issues with his neck, which he has been told will heal in time.
The accident was a sobering reminder to Chief Ares of the dangers of his profession. He will return to work just days after Thursday's 16th anniversary of the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse fire, arguably the worst firefighting tragedy in Central Massachusetts history. The fire on Dec. 3, 1999, took the lives of six Worcester firefighters: Firefighters Paul A. Brotherton, Jeremiah M. Lucey and Joseph T. McGuirk, and Fire Lts. Thomas E. Spencer, Timothy P. Jackson Sr. and James F. Lyons III.
Doctors have said Chief Ares is physically able to get back to work, but he said firefighting is a dangerous profession and he keeps that in mind every time he goes out to a fire.