VIDEO: Injured firefighter Ben Schultz has come full circle, once again working at the Anchorage Fire Department after a 2017 training accident that nearly took his life.
"It's good to be back serving the community of Anchorage again and working alongside my bothers and sisters at AFD," Schultz said.
Schultz is currently working to catalog old AFD photos and video, which will serve as historical records. He says photos go back about 100 years.
"The history of the fire service is pretty important," said Schultz.
AFD Chief Jodie Hettrick says the position wasn't created for Schultz, and is based on work other staff members were doing alongside their other duties. Schultz says the part-time position is an administrative role, as special assistant to the fire chief.
An Anchorage Fire Department report indicated that Schultz fell approximately 100 feet from an aerial ladder during a training exercise in June 2017. No one saw Schultz fall and he was found by AFD personnel on the ground behind a fire truck. According to AFD, Schultz stayed within the edges of the ladder – but would have suffered even more severe injuries had he fallen outside it.