“Undoubtedly, it saved my life,” the firefighter said, speaking with deep appreciation for the black, brimmed helmet that recently stood between him and a falling brick. Tyler Suszek, a longtime firefighter/paramedic with the Alpena Fire Department, returned to work this week more than two months after a wall crumbled on top of him as firefighters fought the fire that destroyed the Alpena Habitat for Humanity store on Nov. 3.
The fire, thought by fire investigators to have been started by an electrical short, began at the store just as shifts were changing at the fire station almost directly across the street. Within moments, firefighters were on the scene.
Suszek, called in from home on his day off, worked with a handful of other firefighters at the back of the building, where three garage-style bay doors held back raging flames hot and strong enough to prevent firefighters from entering the building.