Portland Fire Lt. Peter St. John was smiling Thursday afternoon.
A day earlier, the firefighter didn't know if he would live. St. John and his crew were investigating a natural gas leak Wednesday morning in Northwest Portland when the building they were in exploded. The blast threw St. John onto a chain link fence and a pile of metal, where he lay, unable to move.
"That scared me quite a bit, knowing I couldn't do anything," he said. "I just started thinking about my family." St. John was rushed into surgery Wednesday at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. On Thursday, his condition was upgraded from serious to fair, a hospital spokeswoman said. On Thursday afternoon, he spoke with reporters from his hospital bed in the medical center's trauma unit.