"When we have this much heat, I'm not going to put my firefighters lives in danger," Greenwood Fire Chief Stewart Bryan said.
Bryan pulled all 16 of his firefighters away from a garage fire on South Fowler Wednesday afternoon (July 31). That's after several of them began suffering from heat exhaustion, according to Bryan.
"Guys started falling out after we got here with the high humidity and heat," Bryan said. "We had EMS come in and start checking people."
Sebastian County EMS checked the firefighters for any sign of heat exhaustion or heat-related illnesses on the scene.
"When they started checking our guys, they said a couple of them couldn't go back," Bryan said. "I went ahead and pulled everybody. We stayed back and we let some of our equipment that's meant to fight fires from a long distance take over and do the rest."
After about three hours, Bryan says they were able to put the fire out.
The garage was a loss, however the homeowner says he's just glad no one was hurt.
Bryan said the cause of the fire is still under investigation; however, the homeowner said he believes it sparked from a riding lawn mower inside the garage.
Temperatures in the River Valley were in the low 90s Wednesday.
