Wounded firefighter 'blown away' by support after losing part of his leg

If you've had an emergency near Leicester, in Nova Scotia's Cumberland County, over the last few decades, chances are good that Jimmy Smith came to your rescue. 

Over the last 26 years, he's answered hundreds of calls as a volunteer firefighter with the Leicester Volunteer Fire Department.

But an awful accident recently left him fighting for his life. Smith was cutting wood to warm his home over the winter on Sept. 27. 

"By fluke, the wood chipper got my leg caught and that was it," he said. "I came back out and fell into the wood pile. Tried to call and my phone fell into the wood pile."

He was alone. "I would have been dead down there because blood was flying everywhere," Smith said. "I couldn't move."

But his nephews Jonah and Jaden Chapman and their friend Justin Keating were working in a nearby field and heard his cries for help. One used a belt to make a tourniquet while the other ran to call for help. 

The first emergency responder on the scene was his neighbour and fellow firefighter Garry Lowther. He helped stabilize Smith until the ambulance arrived. 

"It would have been a different situation if the boys hadn't been there," Lowther said. 

Smith went to hospital and learned he'd lost most of his right leg. He can't drive now, can't use the stairs, and couldn't even get in the front door of his house. 

Clayton Brooks is the fire chief of the Leicester Volunteer Fire Department.  

"Jimmy is a 26-year member of our department. He's a very hard worker. He's always there to respond. He always stays until the last job is done," he said. "He's the ideal firefighter." 

Smith responded to hundreds of fires and medical emergencies over the decades. Buildings, wildfires, car fires — everything. 

Brooks said Smith's good work doesn't stop when the fire's out.

"He would go door to door and introduce himself to new members of the community. When we moved here seven years ago, he was the second person we met," Brooks said.