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Union Identifies Chelmsford Firefighter Critically Injured in 40-Foot Fall at State Fire Academy

The case highlights the hazards instructors face during live-burn training.

Overview

  • Nick Spinale, who fell Tuesday during burn-training prep at the Stow campus, remains in intensive care with life-threatening injuries.
  • Union officials say the 28-year-old Chelmsford firefighter plunged about 40 feet from a window and hit solid concrete.
  • Academy medics began care at once, and Stow and Sudbury crews took him by ground to UMass Memorial in Worcester after bad weather grounded helicopters.
  • The cause of the fall is under investigation, and officials have not said what led to it.
  • He was working on the Crib Support team that sets up and lights live-burn props, a high-risk task even with on-site EMTs, and his union expects multiple surgeries and a long recovery as firefighters across Massachusetts offer support.