By FireRescue1 Staff
WALKER COUNTY, Ga. — A fire chief who was seriously injured in a Jan. 19 crash credited inmates for saving his life.
Fire Chief Matthew Mann was driving a prison van when another driver crashed into him head on, according to the Times Free Press. Chief Mann received serious injuries and an inmate riding as a passenger received minor injuries. The driver of the other vehicle was also seriously injured.
Inmates who were trained by Chief Mann at the Walker State Prison Fire Department were following behind the van and put their training in action.
“We didn’t have time to think about it,” inmate Roy Abrams told WRCB. “Our training kicked in. Guys started pulling tools off and immediately went to extraction process.”
They pulled Chief Mann from the vehicle before assistance could arrive and said they just had to do “what they would normally do” in that situation.
“That is just what we do. Whether it is one of us, a person, an animal. If it requires us to go to work, we are going to work, no matter what,” Abrams said.
Chief Mann was transported to a local hospital where he underwent nine surgeries in 11 days.
After spending more than a month in rehab, the chief married at the center Sunday.