HILO
Member
DALLAS — A firefighter died late Sunday afternoon after being injured while trying to put out a three-alarm apartment fire in southwest Dallas.
Dallas Fire-Rescue Acting Chief Louis Bright identified the victim as Lt. Todd Krodle, 41. The 17-year veteran of the department was married and had two children.
Allen Gardner said he saw the flames begin shooting through the roof of a building at the Ridgecrest Apartments, 5606 Plum Grove Lane, after the first alarm was sounded at 4:12 p.m.
"They started trying to figure out where the flame was coming from and started running through the attic," said Gardner, describing the work of firefighters. "As they ran through the attic, a guy fell through the roof at the top right there. He fell straight in."
Fire department spokesman Jason Evans said Lt. Krodle had been working to ventilate the roof of the 42-year-old building by cutting a hole in it, a procedure that reduces the possibility of a dangerous backdraft.
Paramedics brought the injured man down from the second floor and rushed him to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"The emotional strain you could see in their faces," Gardner said. "It's not a big scale fire, but still, anything that they go to they take it as seriously as possible."
Fire, smoke and water damage was limited to one of the two-story buildings at the Ridgecrest complex. Evans said the origin of the fire appears to have been a first floor apartment where there was an electrical appliance malfunction.
"God bless the fire department and the family, and I pray that everything is all right," Gardner said.
Dallas Fire-Rescue Acting Chief Louis Bright identified the victim as Lt. Todd Krodle, 41. The 17-year veteran of the department was married and had two children.
Allen Gardner said he saw the flames begin shooting through the roof of a building at the Ridgecrest Apartments, 5606 Plum Grove Lane, after the first alarm was sounded at 4:12 p.m.
"They started trying to figure out where the flame was coming from and started running through the attic," said Gardner, describing the work of firefighters. "As they ran through the attic, a guy fell through the roof at the top right there. He fell straight in."
Fire department spokesman Jason Evans said Lt. Krodle had been working to ventilate the roof of the 42-year-old building by cutting a hole in it, a procedure that reduces the possibility of a dangerous backdraft.
Paramedics brought the injured man down from the second floor and rushed him to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"The emotional strain you could see in their faces," Gardner said. "It's not a big scale fire, but still, anything that they go to they take it as seriously as possible."
Fire, smoke and water damage was limited to one of the two-story buildings at the Ridgecrest complex. Evans said the origin of the fire appears to have been a first floor apartment where there was an electrical appliance malfunction.
"God bless the fire department and the family, and I pray that everything is all right," Gardner said.
