Fort firefighter injured during Oak Street fire says fast action saved his life

By Kim McDarison 

Not everyone knows the name Nick Rueth, but the events of Aug. 10 have brought him some celebrity. Nick is the Fort Atkinson firefighter who was injured during the Oak Street warehouse fire. The five-alarm blaze burned for several days under department supervision before firefighters cleared the scene. 

Firefighters from some 48 departments from across the southern Wisconsin region worked to control flames as they consumed the north wing of the massive warehouse known as the D.B. Oak building. A goal for firefighters was to prevent the fire from spreading to the building’s south wing. Firefighters worked throughout the day on Aug. 10, and as evening arrived, a storm moved in. It was likely responsible for dislodging panes within a large window on the south wing’s north elevation, one of which plummeted some 10 feet before lodging in Nick’s biceps. 

Nick’s injury was severe. Fast action from a fellow firefighter and EMS personnel at the scene and in two hospitals likely saved his arm and his life, Nick said.  

Now, nearly a month later, Nick is home where he continues to recover.

He is eager to get back to work both as a firefighter and a crew leader at the city’s Department of Public Works (DPW). 

Meeting with Fort Atkinson Online Thursday, among messages he hoped to share with the community, he said, were those of thanks for well wishes and cards, even from strangers, he, and his wife, Emily, said, and for its continued support of firefighters, many of whom do the work for love of serving and helping people, Nick said.  

“We are real people with 9-5 jobs and we have families. We do this because we care, and we want to, and we like doing it,” he added. 

A passion for firefighting

Upon arriving at Nick’s Fort Atkinson home, which he shares with his wife of 19 years and two of the couple’s four children, his love of firefighting is apparent: outside ornamentation, including a wooden cutout of a firefighter and a fire hydrant, decorate the lawn. Inside photographs and other firefighting memorabilia dominate the decor. 

Nick has served as a paid-on-call firefighter with the Fort Atkinson Fire Department for 23 years. He was hired for the job when he was 19 years old, he said. 

His desire to serve as a firefighter grew over time. As a youngster growing up on Foster Street, Nick said, he was close enough to the firehouse to hear the trucks and sirens. 

“I just liked the action and the adrenalin,” he noted, adding that after he graduated from Fort Atkinson High School in 1998, he spent a year at Blackhawk Technical College where he studied fire science. 

“January 1, 1999,” Nick recalled. That was the day he began working at the fire department as a paid-on-call firefighter. The achievement was the realization of a dream, allowing him to follow his passion and serve in his home town. He would have preferred a full-time firefighting position, he said, but today he enjoys both of his jobs. As a full-time DPW employee, he said, he continues to work outdoors, which is his preference, and in service to the community. 

When it comes to firefighting, he said: “I just do it because it’s second nature; it’s more of a passion. I truly love what I do, and that’s true of both jobs,” he said. 

As a firefighter and DPW worker’s wife, Emily said, she and the family have learned to adjust. 

She learned how to snow blow her own driveway because Nick was away during snow events, clearing city streets, and, over the years, when the pager went off, she said: “I’ve been left at restaurants and the grocery store, and he’s missed every holiday, but he loves it and I will support him always.” 

“Being a firefighter, it’s like nothing else,” Nick said. He talked about the camaraderie members within the department share. 

“We grew up together; we raised our families together,” Nick said.  

“We go to weddings and their kids call you aunt and uncle,” Emily added. 

When the pager goes off, they move as a team to get the job done, Nick said.  

“He’s the guy that likes action and facing the things that most people run away from. He wants to fix it and help that person,” Emily said. 

When asked if she worried about his safety, Emily said: “I would say it’s crossed my mind, but I truly trust the people he goes on these calls with. We know them. These people are our family. I trust their training and his life in their hands, literally.”  

Nick said he’s been lucky. Until Aug. 10, he’d sustained a few sports-related injuries, but nothing catastrophic. 

The events of Aug. 10

People in Fort Atkinson and for miles around the city saw the black plume of smoke rising around noon from the fire. 

Nick said he was home making lunch when both his pager and his phone sent out an alarm. Information coming across his scanner reported smoke in the area. 

“I knew there was a fire; I didn’t know how big it was,” Nick said. He also was aware of the day’s soaring temperatures. 

“When I went out the front door, I could see the smoke header in the sky,” and, he said, judging from what he could see, he had an inkling it could be the warehouse on Oak Street. 

“This was a significant fire. Chief (Daryl) Rausch called it a career fire,” meaning very few would ever see a fire of this magnitude in their career, Nick said.  

The number of firefighters and departments called, he said, “That’s insane for this area.” 

Nick was among the first firefighters to arrive at the station.

“I got on the first truck out of the station. It was an engine. It has a hose. We (those aboard the engine), and Chief Rausch, who was driving his own car, were the first ones to arrive at the scene.”  

Nick was the captain on the engine, he said. 

Upon arrival, Nick said, he saw heavy smoke throughout the building’s north side, with fire coming through the roof. The men on the truck organized a hose line and began applying water to the fire. 

“We breached the first door and were preparing to go inside the building, and we made it about 10 feet, and then we were pulled out by the chief because the roof was collapsing,” Nick said.  

The firefighters were told to retreat and they were given a new goal: to save the south side of the building and control the north side as it burned.  

“We had crews, myself, too, on the south side at the fire doors with a hose line just in case the fire made it that far. 

“I was sitting on the (Fort Atkinson) kennel (club) side, at the door, with a hose ready to go. There were two of us there, and as mutual aid showed up, more hose lines were placed. Our crew was a three-man crew, but one person had to pull the line. We pulled and laid three different lines to various locations,” Nick said. 

Nick described battling the fire as “intense” and “physically exhausting.”  

In time, a decision was made to bring in a backhoe to make a firebreak between the two wings of the building, Nick said.

“We were letting it (the north side) burn to conserve water and lessen the runoff, which was an environmental concern,” Nick said. 

It was about 6:30 in the evening, Nick recalled when he and another captain, Paul Verhalen, a paid-on-call firefighter with the Fort Atkinson Department and a full-time member of the Janesville Fire Department, went up to the second floor of the south wing of the warehouse to make sure there was no fire in the space and to find a vantage point from which to watch and protect the backhoe operator. 

“We were running a hose to protect the backhoe operator,” Nick said, adding that the men were preparing to bring a hose onto the second floor to help keep the south side from burning and keep the backhoe operator safe. 

Verhalen was holding a long strap, which Nick called “webbing,” and was preparing to tie a door open so a hose could be brought through. 

“I’m looking out the window, and I see a storm coming,” Nick said. Moments later, a shard of glass fell from the large bank of windows and landed in his arm. 

“My natural reaction was to pull it out and blood started shooting out about two feet,” Nick said. 

Verhalen, a seasoned firefighter, acted quickly to save his life, Nick said. 

“He had his webbing in his hand and he quickly made a tourniquet,” Nick said, adding that he later learned from a doctor that he had about 90 seconds before he would have bled out, and Verhalen had the improvised tourniquet on in 10 seconds. 

Verhalen next assisted Nick out of the building. Nick recalled he was able to walk from the second floor himself to an east side loading dock. When the two firefighters arrived, they found the dock was submerged in water. 

“Paul jumped into the waist-deep water and I went on his back and he carried me through the water,” Nick said. When they emerged from the building, a paramedic with a proper tourniquet was standing by. 

Nick said he does not know who the paramedic was or with which department he serves. He thinks maybe Milton. 

“I would like to know; I would like to thank him, for sure,” Nick said. 

Nick was taken from the scene by ambulance to the hospital in Fort Atkinson where he was stabilized, and then by ambulance to a hospital in Madison where he was met by teams of doctors, including a vascular surgeon. About 15 minutes after he arrived, he was in surgery, which lasted nearly two hours, Emily said. 

Emily recalled noticing the storm as it rolled into Fort Atkinson that evening. She made a video with her phone. She learned soon after from another firefighter that Nick had been taken to the hospital in Fort Atkinson. 

When she learned Nick had been placed in a trauma room in the Fort Atkinson hospital, Emily said, she feared he could die. 

In the ER, she said, “they handed me his wedding ring. That kind of hit me.” 

Nick said before he was stabilized, he, too, feared he might die. On the ambulance ride between Fort Atkinson and Madison, he worried that he would lose his arm. When he woke up after surgery, a little after midnight, he realized he had kept his arm. 

Nick was released from the hospital on Aug. 11. He could have stayed longer, he said, but he was eager to be home. 

After the accident

The Fort Atkinson Fire Department continued to monitor the fire for several days. On Aug. 11, after his release from the hospital, Nick and Emily drove by the station, where, they said, about half of the department was outside caring for its equipment. 

“It was a relief for them to see me. It was the first time I saw Paul. That was very emotional. We were both pretty close to begin with; we grew up down there and we will have a special bond forever, for sure. It was emotional for both of us,” Nick said.  

After the injury, Emily said, there was no doubt in her mind that Nick would continue as a firefighter. 

She would never have asked him to stop, she said, but she tries not to listen to the scanner. When the department is headed into dangerous situations, she said, “I prefer to not know and find out later.”  

After leaving the hospital, Nick said, he had no feeling in his hand for the first day. As of Thursday, his hand is still not fully functional. Three of his fingers were still “tingling,” and the doctors can’t say for sure that all of his feeling will return, he said. 

“I’m confident it will come back,” he said. He sees the tingling as a good sign that the nerves are coming back. 

He hopes to return to work sometime within the next few weeks, albeit possibly with some weight limitations. 

Said Emily: “I want to thank the public for bringing food and water to the fire station, and all the well wishes and the Facebook posts.”

She also thanked both her own and Nick’s families for their support. 

The outpouring, she said, “it helped.” 

“Fort Atkinson is amazing,” Nick said. “It’s why I’m here.” 

Stories about the Oak Street fire are here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/d-b-oaks-buildings-north-side-is-total-loss-south-side-saved/ and here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/a-day-defined-by-smoke/.