Fundraisers Planned for Recovering Firefighter

Updated Sunday, Jan. 8:

Wynn Loiland's wife, Sue, posted the following message on the CaringBridge website Saturday evening.

Wynn has had a bit of a set back. He's been in the ICU for the last few days recovering from a serious bladder infection that has affected him systemically too.

He is getting better but with his existing injuries this too is slow and difficult.

It's our hope he'll be back in the rehab unit early next week. In order to help him recover as quickly as possible he's laying low and not having any visitors. I'll send word when it's okay to resume visits.

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Members of the fire and rescue community are planning fund-raising events in February to benefit , who regained consciousness from a month-long coma over the holidays and is now up and walking around.

"Watch out, Wynn's mobile," wrote Loiland's wife, Sue Loiland, on the firefighter's caringbridge.org web page on Jan. 1. "He walks everyday with minimal assistance — really just needs help with some balance and direction."

The 52-year-old South King County firefighter, a Gig Harbor resident, was critically injured on Nov. 20 when he was hit by a passing car while responding to a car crash on I-5. He suffered life-threatening head and facial injuries, a collapsed lung and broken arm, and was in a coma until just around Christmas, according to the CaringBridge site.

The fire and rescue community, meanwhile, has rallied to not only provide moral support to the Loiland family but also financial assistance. Two Puyallap-based technical training non-profits, Rescue City and the Puyallup Fire Extrication Team, are holding classes over Feb. 10 and 11 in which all course fees will go to benefit the Loiland family. Rescue City's class on urban search and rescue is already full, according to the non-profit's Facebook page.

In addition, the South King Firefighters Foundation in Federal Way, is joining with Rescue City to host a benefit concert the evening of Feb. 11 at the Historic Dieringer School Gym in Sumner. The event — Blue Jeans, Boots & Brotherhood — will feature the Enumclaw country band Aces Up and include a raffle and special presentation by the Pierce County Firefighters Pipes and Drums. Tickets are $35. (Click here to purchase your tickets.)

The money raised from these events will help pay for unexpected expenses being incurred by the Loiland family as a result of the accident.

In the early morning hours of Nov. 20, Wynn Loiland was part of the South King Fire & Rescue (SKFR) team responding to a report of a rollover accident on southbound I-5, just south of the 272nd Avenue exit in Federal Way. The roads were icy, and there were many car accidents along this stretch, according to a Dec. 12 press release from SKFR.

"In the confusion that morning, [the crew] was responding to a scene that had been cleared earlier by the Washington State Patrol," the statement said. "While confirming that there was no person at the scene, another southbound vehicle spun out of control and struck Loiland, narrowly missing other crew members."

Loiland's condition had improved enough by mid-December to be moved from the intensive care unit of Harbor Medical Center and transferred to Seattle's Regional Hospital, accompanied by a procession of police and firefighters from South King County, Tukwila and SeaTac.

A week later, he was transferred from Regional, which specializes in extended critical care, to the rehabilitation unit of Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, where Sue Loiland said on CaringBridge he is in "great hands."

"They are aggressive and they know what they are doing," she wrote. "Wynn is amazingly strong and working very hard to regain his independence. He's recognizing more friends and family everyday. With each day, he gains more and more of his memory."

Wynn Loiland is married to Sue Loiland, the of the . The couple has two sons, Nick and Scott.