Dallas Fire-Rescue
IAFF Local 58
Firefighter Close Calls
Acting Chief Louis Bright announced that Dallas Fire-Rescue Lt. Todd Krodle, a 17-year-veteran died this afternoon after falling through the roof of an apartment building. Krodle, who was 41, left behind a wife and two children.
The three-alarm fire was at the Ridgecrest Apartments at 5606 Plum Grove Lane.
Fire department spokesman Jason Evans said Lt. Krodle had been working to ventilate the roof of the 42-year-old building by cutting a hole in it, a procedure that reduces the possibility of a dangerous backdraft.
Paramedics brought the injured man down from the second floor and rushed him to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"On behalf of the Dallas City Council and the entire City of Dallas workforce, we express our deepest sympathy to the family, friends and fellow firefighters of this courageous and dedicated firefighter," said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings in a written statement issued Sunday night. "We must never lose sight that fire service is an extremely dangerous business and this brave man died doing the dangerous job he loved; protecting our citizens and our properties and making our neighborhoods safer for all of us."
The guy went up there, and he started shaking the roof to see if it was safe,” (neighbor Dezarae) Ferguson said. “Then all of a sudden he just went through and it was a big ol’ poof of smoke everywhere.”
Ferguson and another witness debated whether he had been in the unit 10 or 20 minutes before firefighters were able to carry him out on a stretcher, visibly burned.
“He was in there a long time” Ferguson said. “It was scary".
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