For firefighter Adam Cain, the physical therapy following an 80-foot fall is tough, but the survivor's guilt from living through a fatal explosion is a burden he's not sure he can process.
"We were standing right next to each other," he said, referring to a January blast that killed Clinton fire Lt. Eric Hosette. It's "heart-breaking, wondering how could I be in the same situation he was, except for I’m alive and he, unfortunately, lost his life that day.”
Cain, 23, and Hosette, 33, were putting out a fire on top of a grain silo in Clinton in eastern Iowa on Jan. 5 when the structure caught fire. Cain was knocked unconscious and rescued from inside the grain silo. He suffered broken bones, nerve damage and bruised and lacerated organs.
Hosette, a father and husband, was killed in the blast and resulting fall. Now, Cain said, he does his job, in part, for Hosette. Inspired by the loss of a colleague, Cain returned to his job for the first time in four months Wednesday.