Fort Worth firefighters rescue homeless man suffering hypothermia symptoms
FORT WORTH, Texas - A homeless outreach team with the Fort Worth Fire Department may have saved a man’s life on Sunday morning.
What we know:
The fire department said members of its HOPE team, which stands for Home Outreach Prevention Education, went out to a large encampment off East 9th Street, on the east side of Fort Worth.
They had visited the area on Saturday night to offer people rides to a shelter. However, not everyone wanted to leave. By the time the team returned on Sunday morning, everyone was ready to go.
The firefighters had to carry four people up a steep incline to the transport bus because their shoes had frozen overnight in the rain.
Dallas weather: When will the temperature get above freezing?
Bone-chilling cold persists through Monday with wind chills as low as 4 degrees; temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing until Tuesday afternoon.
They also carried a man who was visibly exhausted and emotionally distressed after being exposed to the extreme cold overnight. But about halfway up the hill, he began having a seizure due to hypothermia.
The man was rushed to the transport van for emergency care and later taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
The HOPE team took the remaining people to a warming shelter.
Fort Worth FD delivers goods to homeless before storm
The Fort Worth Fire Department delivered cold weather clothing and supplies to unsheltered people near downtown as a powerful winter storm approaches North Texas. FOX 4's Dionne Anglin has more.
What they're saying:
"Every resident of this city is a priority and the Fort Worth Fire Department wants to ensure you that we are doing everything we can during this winter weather storm to help whomever we can. This is what we do in the City of Fort Worth: we help one another no matter what," the Fort Worth Fire Department said in a post on social media.
What we don't know:
The man’s current condition is unknown.
The Source: The information in this story comes from the Fort Worth Fire Department.