STERLING, Va. — The last firefighter hospitalized after a deadly house explosion in Sterling has been released.
Brian Diamond, 43, left the burn unit at MedStar Washington Hospital Center Wednesday, more than a month after he was critically injured. He was transported by ambulance from D.C. to Fire Station 618 in Sterling where the team cheered his arrival. Among the people who lined up include some of the injured firefighters of his team.
He said he looks forward to seeing his four children.
“It’s going to be crazy,” Brian Diamond said. “I told them last night that I was coming home, and they just jumped up and were doing jumping jacks and flipping around the room. It’s been a long time and I’m just so appreciative of all the firefighters and everybody who have been supporting me 100% the entire that I’ve been there."
The Sterling volunteer firefighter was in the basement of a home on Silver Ridge Drive for a gas leak from an underground propane tank when it exploded. The blast injured 11 other people and killed volunteer firefighter Trevor Brown, 45.
“God got me out of that and there's no other way I could have escaped that,” Brian Diamond recalled. “It was crazy down there and terrifying. I had moments of clarity after saying prayers thinking about my wife and my kids.”
Brian Diamond said he’s saddened to think about Brown, who he said he loved and had enjoyed a dinner together shortly before the explosion.
He credited the support of the fire and rescue community and his wife, Lisa Diamond, with his own recovery.
“I’ve been living up in D.C. so I’ve been with him most of the time so I’m excited to get him back to our family,” Lisa Diamond said.
Brian Diamond is also a teacher at J. Michael Lunsford Middle School in South Riding where he and his wife work. The school community began to collect gift cards to support the family through his recovery.
He underwent five surgeries and will have to continue physical therapy.
Despite what happened to him, Brian Diamond plans on returning to the fire company. His wife supports him.
“For us, having him come home is a milestone for the company,” Sterling Volunteer Fire Company Chief David Short told WUSA9. “It is kind of a part of our healing process.”