Four firefighters with the Forsyth County Fire Department were injured in two related incidents early Friday morning, but all of them are now out of the hospital and recuperating at home.
Fire Division Chief Jason Shivers said the events unfolded in the 5 a.m. hour while Forsyth County was under a tornado warning, experiencing rough weather conditions.
"Initially, we had units enroute to a structure fire on Victory Point in the Victory Lake neighborhood," Shivers said. "It was in rough conditions - heavy, heavy rain with constant lightning. The family reported what is...likely the home getting hit by lightning."
Shivers said while the family - two grandparents and three grandchildren - made it out of the home safely, one firefighter was injured when a ceiling in a room of the burning home collapsed on top of him.
"We got him out of the building and transported to North Fulton Hospital with injuries - relatively minor, but injured nonetheless," Shivers said.
While that was happening, a back-up engine was enroute to the house fire and crashed on Shiloh Road.
"Engine 6 left the roadway and overturned," Shivers said. "All three firefighters on board were transported to North Fulton Hospital with varying degrees of minor injuries."
Shivers said while he can't point to an exact cause of the crash just yet, there was heavy rain, wind and lightning in the area at the time.
"The incident's under investigation by the sheriff's office and our internal affairs division, so we'll know more later. Certainly I can't tell you the weather was the cause of the accident...but it's a fact that as they were responding, they were in very, very tough weather conditions," Shivers said.
Shivers said all four firefighters will be off duty for a few days, but he expects all of them to make a full recovery.
