A Wisconsin firefighter was shot and critically injured after a loaded weapon inside a burning building discharged, officials said.
Justin Fredrickson, 35, is in the intensive care unit of Mayo Hospital in Eau Claire, where he has undergone three surgeries since the Feb. 19 incident, the Cornell Area Fire Department said Thursday in a Facebook post.
According to the department, Fredrickson responded to a blaze in the Township of Willard, about 195 miles west of Green Bay. He was operating a hose line when the firearm went off, fire Chief Dennis Klass said Tuesday in another Facebook post.
"The loaded firearm discharged due to heat conditions caused by the fire, not by the intentional actions of a person," he said.
The bullet traveled through an exterior wall and hit Fredrickson in the abdomen, according to authorities.
Paramedics took him to Ladysmith Hospital before flying him to Mayo, Klass said.
Assistant Chief Matt Boulding said Thursday that Fredrickson, a 16-year veteran of the department, was "resting comfortably ... in good spirits and on the road to recovery."
The fire department said the Fredrickson family was accepting donations at any Northwestern Bank location under "Cornell Volunteer Fireman (memo: Justin Fredrickson)."
