Fort Worth firefighters rescue homeless man suffering hypothermia symptoms

Fort Worth firefighters save homeless man during winter storm

Fort Worth’s HOPE team rescued several people from a large homeless encampment on East 9th Street during a dangerous winter storm Sunday morning. One man suffered a seizure from hypothermia while being carried to safety and was rushed to a local hospital for emergency treatment. FOX 4's Dionne Anglin has more.

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. The special unit within the Fort Worth Fire Department is conducting these routine checks at homeless encampments. 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. 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.

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Local perspective:

The HOPE team took the remaining people to a warming shelter. Ben Odom describes surviving overnights.

"It’s pretty bad. Pretty cold. Thank God I had my dogs; they’re the only thing that kept me warm. Had holes in my blanket trying to stay warm," he said.

That’s not the case at all for some others. Thus far, at least six homeless individuals have had to be rescued from life-threatening situations. This photo shows firefighter Louis Pantoja carrying a large man out of a camp on his back. FOX 4 asked Pantoja what he was thinking at the point when this image was taken.

"Just getting to the top, getting to the top and get him warm. He was crying on my shoulder, he was telling me he wasn’t feeling good. I told him to hang on. We’re almost there. We’ll get to the truck and we’ll get you warm."

Courtesy: Fort Worth Fire Department

This was the same area where the team was shadowed while handing out blankets and supplies before the storm moved in.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 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:

"We took four from this side and two from that side. On our backs," said Louis Pantoja, of the FWPD H.O.P.E. Team.

Pantoja and trained paramedic Chris Provence were a part of a two-man team, with no other help.

"It was just a lot of weight to carry and in the slippery conditions, so it took both of us. As Louis had him on his back, I was having to help support and push up the hill so we wouldn’t just go back down," said Provence.

"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.

As they continue to do checks at dozens of camps and interact with those living unsheltered, the firefighters describe the circumstances as mentally taxing.

"As we walked up to the camps, you could see their shoes sitting there, and it looked just like a big block of ice, like there’s no putting your shoes on the water has literally just started freezing all the way up like an ice tray."

What we don't know:

The man’s current condition is unknown.