Fort Worth Firefighters Render Unique Aid

July 07--FORT WORTH -- Capt. David Collard said his firefighters regularly make emergency calls to help people who have fallen.

But the one they answered Friday afternoon was a little different.

Leroy Conley, 73, who lives on Market Street on the north side, had fallen and needed help getting up. Conley told the firefighters that he had become ill, and after walking inside his residence, they understood why.

"It was maybe 105, 110 degrees in there," Collard said. "It was hotter inside his house than it was outside."

Conley had been living without an air conditioner since January 2014, when a deadly fire next door left his home with smoke and water damage. The heat and debris ruined his window unit.

"I had a $1,000 deductible, but there wasn't enough damage for the insurance company to replace anything," said Conley, who survived last summer by drenching his shirts in cold water and sitting near a small electric fan that hummed in his bedroom.

On Tuesday, after their 24-hour shift, firefighters from Station 12 installed a new window unit in Conley's bedroom.

"Outside, we have a little breeze to cool us off sometimes. But inside, it's hot, it's muggy, and it's no way for anyone to live," said Mike Drivdahl, public relations director for Fort Worth Firefighter Charities. "But I think it'll be a lot cooler in there today than it was yesterday."

Collard said that after answering the emergency call, he contacted Fort Worth Firefighter Charities to see whether it could help. An air conditioner was quickly bought.

"We usually see people when they are in emergency situations," Drivdahl said. "It's usually the worst day of their lives. It's awfully nice to leave a place when we're smiling and they're smiling."

The air conditioner took only minutes to install, but Conley said it will make a big difference as the days and nights get warmer.

"This is heaven-sent," Conley said. "I don't know what I would have done if they had not come out to help me. More or less, this is saving my life."

Tuesday's installation of a window air-conditioning unit is the second act of kindness related to the fire that killed Elvia Arriola, 36, and her daughter, 6-year-old Gabriela Segoviano.

Last year, 9-year-old Hector Montoya, who learned about the fire while watching the TV news, began raising money to buy and donate more than 2,700 smoke detectors to needy residents in Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Irving and other cities.

Mitch Mitchell, 817-390-7752

Twitter: @mitchmitchel3

Helping those in need

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