From Firefighter to EMT: What Inspired One Volunteer’s Switch

Guideposts Video: Inspiring True Stories

Hi, Guideposts. My name is Jen Struckmeyer, and I’m going to tell my story. I don’t look at myself as a burn victim; I look at myself a burn survivor.

You know, I wanted to help people before. Then, you know, since the fire, I really want to help people. Why I became a firefighter is, I wanted to be an EMT. And to be an EMT, I had to join a fire department.

Some of the surrounding departments was doing a controlled burn, and it got out of control.

So I called my husband, and I said, “You need to get home quick, because these fires are just out of control, beyond anything I’ve ever seen.” And it was just chaos. The wind was blowing so bad, and the fire was on the left side of us, and then there was the ditch on the other side. My first thought was, I’m not going to die on this truck. I can’t do that. I got to get off. And my thoughts were, when I jumped off, that I can get to the ditch and be OK.

When I jumped off, I had looked back south, and the wind had changed direction, and it caught everything that was green on fire, and it was coming at us. And it was higher than the power poles. It was like tornadoes of fire coming at us. And I just thought, this is it. I’m not going to go for the ditch. I’ll just go for the front of the truck. And everybody, you know, hopefully will see me go to the front of the truck.

My sister-in-law saw me run by and she tells me that I didn’t fall. She said, “You were pushed to the ground” and she said, “The only way I can describe it is the hand of God pushed you to the ground.” And I don’t know the time, because it seems like time is forever when you’re laying there, especially burning.

The first thing I did was pray. And I said, “God, if you’re going to take me, take me now. If not, this burning has to stop. I can’t do it no more.” And I opened my eyes and it had stopped. Yuma Fire found us, put us in the back of the Suburban, and took us to the ambulance.

I guess I keep going and doing what I do because I love it, and I know there’s danger. But you’re more cautious now, you’re more aware of that–the actual dangers out there, because I never thought anything like this would ever happen.

The hardest part about recovery was coming home and not having all the nurses there to take care of me, Not really being alone, but feeling like you’re alone. The pain, still, you’ve got to deal with the pain, and then the everyday–doing everyday things is way different than it was before.
Everything changed. My faith was affected, I would say, a lot. I’ve come to know God a whole lot more than I used to. I have to say, what gave me strength was my husband, my family, my kids, and, of course, God. I am still here for a purpose. It’s not going to–I’m not going to mess it up. You know, I don’t think a whole lot of people get a second chance, and get to say, “Hey, you get to do something now.” And I look at it–He didn’t put me in the fire, but He saved me from the fire. And to me, the least I can do is obey Him.

Yeah, I would say it strengthened the will to want to help more. When somebody tells me that they don’t think they can get through it, I just show them my scars. You know, I don’t make it about me, but I try to tell them that if I can get through this, something like this, you can get through this, too, and just encourage them.