He Chose to Fight.
Through Fire. Still Standing.
A Firefighter Burn Survivor Week Series (2026)
Each year in Crested Butte, burn-injured firefighters gather for a week unlike any other — Firefighter Burn Survivor Week, made possible by the DC Firefighters Burn Foundation, the Adaptive Sports Center, and dedicated partners who believe in the long road of recovery.
They come from different departments. Different states. Different stages of recovery.
But they share something few others understand.
This week is about challenge. Perspective. Rebuilding confidence in a body that has changed.
Most of all, it’s about not having to explain.
This is Spencer’s story....
He Chose to Fight
Spencer Tejedas | Gresham Fire Department
When Spencer Tejedas talks about the fire, he doesn’t dramatize it. He tells it plainly. Steadily. The way firefighters do.
Spencer is a firefighter with the Gresham Fire Department in Oregon. Before that, he spent seven seasons as a wildland firefighter. He’s a dad to two young boys. A snowboarder. A guy who loved the job.
On May 30, 2024, everything changed.
Responding to a structure fire with reports of a child trapped inside, Spencer and his partner made entry to search. Conditions shifted in a heartbeat. A flashover engulfed the home. Spencer was caught inside for nearly two minutes in temperatures later estimated to exceed 1,400 degrees.
He doesn’t remember panic as much as resolve.
At one point, disoriented and surrounded by fire, he thought he might not make it out. He saw his kids in his mind. And then he made a decision.
“I decided to fight.”
Spencer found light through smoke — a window — and dove out. He survived. His injuries were severe: 45% full-thickness burns, multiple finger amputations, months in the hospital, six weeks on ECMO, and 4½ months before he woke up.
He was treated at the Legacy Emanuel Oregon Burn Center and later completed inpatient rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon. He relearned how to walk. How to breathe without support. How to use his hands in a new way.
And then the deeper recovery began.
Therapy. Fatherhood in a new body. The long mental work of processing trauma and the relentless “what ifs.”
He will tell you therapy saved his life. He will tell you perspective became everything.
Finding Community in Crested Butte
This week, Spencer joined fellow burn-injured firefighters in Crested Butte for Firefighter Burn Survivor Week, hosted in partnership with the Adaptive Sports Center.
He came in open — but unsure what to expect.
What he found was a sense of normalcy he calls “addictive.”
A space intentionally created for connection. For challenge. For pushing limits safely. For not having to explain your scars or your story — because everyone already understands.
He snowboarded. He ice climbed — something he initially thought he wouldn’t be able to do. With adaptive support and patient instructors, he climbed anyway.
“It kind of opened up a whole other world in my rehabilitation process,” he said. “Not being afraid to try things you don’t think you can do anymore.”
But more than the activities, it was the perspective that changed him.
Listening to firefighters six, ten, even twenty years post-injury reminded him that healing isn’t linear. Growth doesn’t stop. The work continues — and so does the strength.
“I Don’t Want to Leave”
When asked what he’ll tell people back home about the week, Spencer pauses.
“I’m really just absolutely speechless.”
He talks about gratitude. About strangers who donate so that firefighters like him can show up, fully supported. About the space created by leaders and volunteers who believe this work matters.
He talks about feeling exactly where he’s supposed to be.
And maybe that’s the clearest measure of impact.
Not just survival.
Not just recovery.
Belonging.
Spencer walked through fire and chose to fight.
This week in Crested Butte, he climbed ice, carved snow, and stood shoulder to shoulder with others who understand.
The work isn’t done.
But neither is he.
Firefighter Burn Survivor Week exists because people choose to show up.
When a firefighter is injured, the recovery doesn’t end at the hospital doors. It continues in places like Crested Butte — where healing looks like challenge, connection, and community.
Help us make sure the next firefighter has a place to land.
The Foundation
Founded in 2004 by active and retired Washington, D.C. firefighters, the D.C. Firefighters Burn Foundation stands beside injured firefighters and burn survivors from the moment of injury through every phase of recovery.
Through direct support, peer connection, and transformative programs like Firefighter Burn Survivor Week, we help ensure no one walks this road alone.
