Garland Firefighter Injured Rescuing Dog

Firefighter home from hospital after being injured while trying to rescue dog

A Garland firefighter who sustained a skull fracture during the rescue of a dog at the Rowlett Creek Preserve is home after a four-day hospital stay.

A high-pressure air tank hit Bobby Brinkley in the face while he was trying to rescue a Shepard mix on Saturday.

"The bottle got away, acted like a rocket and struck Bobby in the head," said Paul Henley, of the Garland Fire Fighters Association.

Brinkley and the Swift Water Rescue Squad were using the tank to fill a life raft to get the trapped dog.

"We don't believe it was a malfunction of the equipment, although we will do an investigation on it and try to determine just what went wrong and the lessons learned," said Merrill Balanciere, of the Garland Fire Department.

Brinkley's colleagues said they are grateful he is home.

"Every day, there's things in this job that are insidious and can sneak up, and a lot of it is life-threatening," Henley said.

Brinkley's recovery was quicker than expected. The firefighters association said it hopes Brinkley will be back at work in eight weeks.

"It could have been a lot worse than what it was," Balanciere said. "Hopefully, he'll be back on shift. The guys at the station are waiting for him to get back, and I'm sure he's ready to be back to work."

Brinkley's father is adopting the rescued dog, which will be ready to go to his new home Thursday.

"He was saved twice," Balanciere said.

The Garland Fire Fighters Association sponsored the adoption, but the animal shelter said it would consider the adoption as a donation and use the money to rescue another dog.

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