‘The guy you always want with you’: Community rallies around recovering Gresham firefighter

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — For months, the Gresham Fire Department has been working without one of their own.

Spencer Tejedas is still in the hospital with nearly half of his body burned, after fighting a duplex fire in late May.

Jack Pilarski responded to that call, too. Not only as a colleague, but a friend.

“He’s definitely one of the most skilled firefighters we have. That’s the guy you always want with you,” he said. “He has your back on any fire. We love Spencer and we miss him.”

Tejedas is now out of his medically-induced coma and scheduled for his seventh and hopefully last surgery next week. But the road to recovery is a long one.

Already, the Red Cross said Tejedas has received 70 pints of blood to help him heal.

Captain Travis Soles – who trained Tejedas when he came up through the fire academy – was one of the Red Cross blood donors Friday.

“When someone is burned, it actually takes a lot of blood products to help them with that healing,” he noted.

Soles added that, right now, Tejedas can only communicate by blinking his eyes and nodding his head. But if a hero can risk his life for others, then Soles is all in to do whatever it takes to get that hero home.

“If my old leathery blood can help, then I’ll gladly give it,” he stated. “So at the very least it’s helping other people. If it doesn’t go directly to Spencer, there are other people out there.”

Many have contributed to a GoFundMe , which is aimed to help the Tejedas family cover basic needs while Spencer recovers in the hospital.

The fund has now raised more than $240,000.

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