HEROIC FIREFIGHTER JENSEN RETIRES.Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer Exactly two years after a 100-foot wall of flame in the Calabasas-Malibu Fire nearly killed firefighter Bill Jensen, a retirement party was held for him Thursday at the Glendale Fire Department. ``I have a total full life,'' said Jensen, who underwent 27 surgeries and has nearly fully recovered from burns that covered 70 percent of his body. ``I know I can never work again but there's a lot of things I can do to help burn survivors.'' Jensen timed his retirement to the anniversary of the October fire. He was the most seriously injured in·jure tr.v. in·jured, in·jur·ing, in·jures 1. To cause physical harm to; hurt. 2. To cause damage to; impair. 3. of the firefighters who were trapped in Malibu Canyon when winds shifted and overtook o·ver·took v. Past tense of overtake. two crews. The fire continued for a week, burning 13,010 acres as it headed from Calabasas to the sea. As for predictions that excess growth caused by last winter's El Nino could make this a difficult fire season, Jensen cautioned that it's impossible to know how bad the season will be. ``Every year could be a tough year. Even if it's small fire in a small area, people could be hurt and homes could be burned. It doesn't have to be over 1,000 acres,'' Jensen said. ``You just hope no citizens or firefighters lose their lives.'' During the first year after the Malibu fire, Jensen focused on recovering from his injuries, including four months at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital Sherman Oaks Hopital (SOH) is an 153 bed acute care facility in Sherman Oaks, California, USA and is home of world renowned the Grossman Burn Center. SOH is owned and operated by Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. . Within the past year, he has worked in education programs with the Glendale Fire Department, volunteered for the American Red Cross American Red Cross: see Red Cross. and has helped raise money for a Glendale-based nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. called the Firefighters Quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the Burn Survivors. While in the burn center, Jensen, 54, said he received letters from students at 170 schools and he has since gone to all those campuses and thanked the students for their good wishes and talked to them about fire safety and burn recovery. A recipient of 111 pints of blood during his ordeal, he also attends American Red Cross events and fund-raisers nationwide to talk about how important blood and skin graft skin graft Autologous, donated, or surrogate skin removed from one site to cover surfaces on another region with 3rd-degree burns or traumatic tissue loss. See Split-thickness graft. Cf Artificial skin, 'Spray-on' skin. donations were to his survival. ``The people at these Red Cross events usually don't get to see the finished product,'' said Sue Jensen, his wife. Glendale Fire Engineer Jim Meyer said Jensen's recovery fight has been inspirational to firefighters and burn survivors everywhere. ``It's a tremendous eye opener. You don't like to see any member of the department get burned,'' Meyer said. ``He's made pretty much a full recovery. It's had a positive impact on the department.'' Sue Jensen said the couple is planning a typical retirement. Both will spend more time with their grandchildren GRANDCHILDREN, domestic relations. The children of one's children. Sometimes these may claim bequests given in a will to children, though in general they can make no such claim. 6 Co. 16. and they are planning a cross-country trip. Thursday marked the two-year anniversary of the fire and Sue Jensen said she is amazed a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. by how much progress her husband has made. ``Two years ago seems like a lifetime ago,'' she said. CAPTION(S): photo PHOTO Retiring firefighter Bill Jensen, who was severely burned in the Calabasas-Malibu Fire two years ago, gets a hug from retired fire engineer Willis McMullin. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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