By Matt Breslow
Staff Writer
December 4, 2005
NORWALK -- Flames rolled against a ceiling and curled down onto firefighter Phil Brigante in an August blaze "like a finger . . . tapping you on the shoulder," he recalled recently.
The imagery is ironic, given the injuries Brigante suffered that day: second- and third-degree burns to his hands that left him hospitalized for more than two weeks, requiring two rounds of skin grafts.
The skin around his knuckles remains tight, mobility in his thumbs is limited and he can't make a fist with his left hand. But Brigante resumed driving about a month ago, undergoes painful occupational therapy and hopes to return to active duty -- and his beloved pastime of golf -- in six months.
After doctors said he risked losing the use of some of his fingers if the surgeries had not gone well, Brigante, 27, believes he was touched again from above.
"I had angels watching over me," he said.
The 1996 Norwalk High School graduate smiled easily as he sat in a kitchen at Charles A. Volk Central Fire Station last week. Clad in a fire department shirt and special gloves -- which he must wear almost all the time -- Brigante described his ordeal, recovery and outlook.
A residential blaze was reported shortly before 7 a.m. Aug. 28 on East Rocks Road, where firefighters found "heavy, heavy flames" at the rear of a home, Deputy Chief Stephen Shay recalled. Fire had burned through the roof.
Engine Co. 4, Brigante's unit, carried the first hose line through the front door. Brigante was the first firefighter on the line.
"It was a large fire, but . . . just another day for us," Shay said.
That is, until Brigante led his squad to the back of the house, aggressively trying to find the main portion of the blaze and extinguish it, the firefighter recalled. Heavy fire was banking down from the ceiling. The volume of fire was particularly large for the size of the house, Brigante said.
Shay explained the physics of firefighting to recount what happened next. Since heat generally rises, most of it was at the ceiling, seeking a way out. Events such as opening a door to enter a building disrupt the thermal balance and add a new oxygen supply to the blaze, he said. Putting water on a fire creates steam.
It's not uncommon for a firefighter to feel heat "bank(ing) down" on him, Shay said. Usually, firemen end up with burned ears or necks, unless they can hit the floor and escape, the deputy chief said.
"It's not unusual," he said. "It's just, this time it got him."
Every firefighter gets burned at some point, but usually not as badly as Brigante, Shay said.
Brigante had been burned at a previous blaze, around his face and neck. He described those injuries as "minor, minor burns" that were "just enough to be annoying."
Assistant Fire Chief Laurence Reilly said Brigante's August burns were the most severe he can recall a Norwalk fireman suffering in 30 years.
After being burned, Brigante walked out of the house in pain but unaware of how serious his injuries were.
When he saw the extent of Brigante's injuries, Shay said he became worried about the other firefighters inside and felt sick to his stomach.
"He was on the front lawn and all the skin was hanging off his hands," Shay recalled.
It wasn't until Brigante sat on the back step of Engine 4 and looked at his hands that he realized how severely he was injured.
"What was going through my mind when I saw that? Well, I knew I wasn't going home," Brigante said, laughing softly.
An ambulance took him to the Bridgeport Hospital burn center, where trauma surgeons determined he suffered second- and third-degree burns and needed skin grafts. Cadaver skin was grafted to the backs of Brigante's hands in the days after the fire. On Sept. 8, doctors took a 14-inch-by-3-inch piece of skin from Brigante's right thigh and grafted it onto his hands.
"That hurt more than the hands did," he said.
Brigante spent two weeks and two days in the hospital, during which he drew on support from co-workers, family, friends and complete strangers who called and sent cards and gifts.
"It's nice," Brigante said. "There are some good people out there."
Until he could drive, co-workers and family took Brigante to medical appointments, to visit people and to run errands.
Brigante said he never thought his injuries would prevent him from returning to work or leave him with physical limitations. But after he left the hospital, surgeons told Brigante he could have lost the use of some fingers. Though doctors set the goal of getting Brigante to use his hands again, he said it never occurred to him that would be an issue.
Occupational therapy, a painful process Brigante endures three times a week, involves exercising his joints to stretch the skin and restore functionality to his hands, he said. Massage therapy is designed to limit scarring. Meanwhile, Brigante wears custom-made neutral-colored compression gloves 23 hours a day to reduce scarring and prevent cells from rising. He removes the gloves to bathe and apply lotion.
The ordeal has been a "humbling experience that makes you respect fire even more," Brigante said. It's also yielded revelations about his own mortality and limitations. Brigante feels especially lucky after being surrounded by other burn victims in the hospital.
Reilly said two firefighters were badly burned in a Putnam Avenue blaze in 1975. One man was burned on the hands, the other on the face. Both recovered and retired after full careers, although the man who injured his hands complained they hurt in cold weather, Reilly said.
Reilly said he is surprised at the speed of Brigante's recovery.
Brigante said he's "anxious" to return to work and isn't apprehensive.
"The Lord blessed me with two hands," he said. "I want to use them to help people."
Copyright © 2005, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.