A Claremore firefighter, who nearly lost his life during a storm, is back at work – eight months after being knocked unconscious and suffering life-threatening injuries.
Lieutenant Zane James is now on the road to recovery, but missing his fellow firefighter and friend, Captain Jason Farley, who drowned to death. For the first time, James spoke about the loss of his friend, his recovery and where he plans to go from here.
It's been eight months since Farley was killed after rushing floodwaters forced him through a storm drain. James was also sucked into the same drain but survived.
James looks like any other firefighter - ready for the next call - but underneath his smile, he's a forever changed man; wondering why he’s still here and Farley isn’t.
"It’s always going to affect me,” he said. “And I guarantee you, until the day I die, when rain comes through or anything like that it will always trigger me to think about it."
May 23, 2015, started out as an ordinary day at the station; as rain fell, calls started coming in - one from a family on Archer Court. Firefighters had just rescued them when Farley lost his footing - James thought he had fallen in a manhole.