A Cowpens, South Carolina resident and firefighter with two Spartanburg County departments is in “extremely critical condition” at a burn center in Augusta, Ga., following a plane crash in Florida Sunday morning, according to authorities.
Four Cowpens Fire Department firefighters, including Chief Tony Blanton, and members of Pelham-Batesville Fire Department left Monday morning to be with Patrick Schultz's family at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center, said Cowpens firefighter Steve Quinn. Schultz, 36, is a volunteer with Cowpens and works for the Pelham-Batesville Fire Department, which has coverage areas in Spartanburg and Greenville counties.
“It's tough on our department right now,” Quinn said Monday. “(Schultz is) an excellent firefighter, a family guy, a church guy.”
Three other people were killed when the small plane Schultz was piloting crashed and caught fire in a wooded area north of Fountain in Bay County, Fla., the News Herald in Panama City reported. The victims have been identified as Schultz's mother Kathleen Schultz, his aunt Nancy Moore and 14-year-old nephew Nicholas Hoang. Schultz was transported to a burn unit in “extremely critical” condition, according to Florida authorities.
A Florida native, Schultz, his wife of 10 years, Jessica, and their 4- and 12-year-old daughters drove from South Carolina to Florida Friday to be with family for vacation, Quinn said.
Pelham-Batesville Capt. Scott Harris said Schultz, who began working with the department last July, was burned on 30 percent of his body. He was undergoing surgery Monday afternoon, with surgeons looking for internal burns to determine his prognosis. According to initial reports, Schultz was burned on his legs, face, chest and back.
Bay County sheriff's deputies were called about 9:25 a.m. Sunday after a witness reported a small plane had crashed just southeast of U.S. 231 and County 167, according to News Herald reports.
Fire crews from three counties responded to battle the wildfire sparked by the plane's explosion.
The remote location of the crash challenged deputies, as vehicles got stuck in the sandy terrain, the News Herald reported. Crews with the Florida Forest Service on bulldozers worked to clear a passage to the crash site.
It appeared to investigators the plane crashed shortly after taking off from a small grass airstrip nearby. The wreckage was in such a condition that deputies could not determine the type of plane. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said it was a Piper PA28 and that the FAA is investigating, the News Herald reports.
“There's not much of the aircraft that remains,” said Bay County Sheriff's Office Maj. Tommy Ford, in the news account.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Nicholas Worrell said Monday the investigator at the scene was just beginning an investigation that would likely take between six months and a year. The investigator was documenting the scene and interviewing witnesses Monday, but it will likely be a few more days before the wreckage is even removed, Worrell said.
The Pelham-Batesville department's chaplain, Gary Rogers, led a group of about 75 people, including firefighters and neighborhood residents, in prayer about 8:30 a.m. Monday. Harris said the department received an email Monday morning stating that Schultz was undergoing “the first of many surgeries.”
Pelham-Batesville firefighters described Schultz as energetic.
“In the mornings, he's the energy in the room,” said firefighter Christopher Currin. “He's outgoing and comes in with high fives.”
Harris said Schultz was always shaking hands and “just glad to be here.” He was in the process of taking an EMT course.
“He kind of makes the best of everything,” Harris said.
Firefighters are in the process of setting up an account for donations to the Schultz family. They are asking for prayers.
“With his injuries, he will have a long recovery,” Harris said. “And dealing with the emotional part...It's going to be a battle for him.”