A retired firefighter is sharing his story of survival with the hope his fellow first responders don't suffer the same fate.
It was a split second that reshaped Paul Nees’s future.
"I was severely burned. It was a near death incident,” Nees said. “I was 20-25% burned, second and third degree."
The retired firefighter barely escaped a flashover.
It happened back in July of 2011, while he was battling a house fire in University Heights.
“A flashover occurs when everything in the room reaches the same ignition temperature, and everything ignites at once,” Nees said.
Nees spent nearly a month in a burn unit undergoing painful treatments.
“It was a significant injury –one of the most significant injuries in Northeast Ohio for a long time,” Nees said.