Rod Lambert, a Franklin native who was paralyzed in a firetruck accident in 1995, died from his injuries at the age of 52 on Aug. 10. Submitted photo
A Franklin native who was left paralyzed in a fire truck crash and recently died is being remembered for his perseverance and his love of the fire service.
Rodrick “Rod” S. Lambert, 52, died Aug. 10 from injuries he sustained in a 1995 fire truck crash in Indianapolis. Lambert, who was a Wayne Township firefighter, was left paralyzed as a result of the crash, which also killed 24-year-old firefighter Ron Deer Jr. of Greenwood.
On May 23, 1995, Lambert and Deer were in the back of a fire engine responding to a call when the engine tipped and rolled over multiple times. They were not wearing seat belts when the wreck occurred. The raised roof of the engine separated from the cab when it overturned and they were thrown, according to archived reports in the Daily Journal.
The engine was responding to a box alarm which turned out to be a false alarm. Lambert had been with the department for three years when the crash occurred.
The crash left him paralyzed.
“We flipped four times and then I found myself lying in the middle of the road, and found out I couldn’t move,” Lambert told the Daily Journal in July 1995, two months after the crash. “I closed my eyes and opened them up again, and I knew I wasn’t dead.”
Lambert was a 1991 graduate of Franklin Community High School, joining the Wayne Township Fire Department in 1992. He was a man who loved the fire service.
“There was one thing that he wanted to be: a fireman,” then-Franklin Fire Chief Jack Matthews said of Lambert in 1995. He used to hang out at the Franklin fire stations as a child, and had applied for a position with Franklin Fire, only to join Wayne Township first.
Two months into recovery from the crash, Lambert told the Daily Journal he wished he could fight one more fire. But the severity of his injuries wouldn’t let him.
In October 1995, a still-recovering Lambert was named an honorary chief of the Franklin Fire Department by Matthews. Before a gathering of Johnson County firefighters, he told the story of what happened.
Before he spoke, Lambert believed his misfortune had already changed the way things worked at area fire departments.
“People are getting more serious about it now,” he said in July 1995.
Lambert was a fixture at Wayne Township fire stations over the last 30 years, “visiting often and bringing his incredible spirit and smile, inspiring others to never give up on life’s challenges,” Wayne Township Capt. Eric Banister said in a news release.
Bargersville Fire Deputy Chief Mike Pruitt had known Lambert for years, since Pruitt worked at the Franklin Fire Department.
“He had a passion to become a firefighter, and Wayne Township gave him that opportunity to go and work in a larger department as a volunteer that did a lot of runs,” Pruitt said.
When Pruitt went to work at Wayne Township in 2000, Lambert was around a lot. He loved to come in and talk business, Pruitt said.
“Even though he was in a wheelchair, his passion for the fire service was still burning bright the whole time,” Pruitt said.
Wayne Township Fire Battalion Chief Justin Sparks first heard of Lambert’s story when he joined the department 20 years ago, when he was taught the history of the crash. It was when he hit the streets that he was able to meet Lambert and get to know him, Sparks said.
“He was just incredibly positive. He had this great vibe and a great energy. And he, you could tell like immediately, that he still had this great passion for the fire service,” Sparks said.
When Sparks was promoted to captain of Engine 82, which had been part of the company Lambert was with, he knew he had to continue to keep the history of the company alive, including the stories of Lambert and Deer, he said.
This was especially true when probationary firefighters would come to the station. Sparks would ask Lambert to come to the station to speak to them face-to-face, he said.
“Rod’s perseverance and his energy for life, and his love for the fire service, and that he had this drive to overcome that was just so massive, and getting him in front of those new firefighters who are in that very impressionable phase of their careers, getting them to be able to hear his story, see his story, was incredibly important,” Sparks said.
Although Lambert lost the physical ability to do the job in 1995, he was a dreamer. He kept track of where he would’ve been in his career, and this summer, he even remarked to Sparks about how he would be about ready to retire now.
“He always had really well thought out plans and ideas had he been able to continue in his career, that he had it all laid out,” Sparks said. “I thought that was really fascinating. It was really beautiful to see the depth of his dreams for the fire department, for himself.”
There were rough times with Lambert’s health, with firefighters having to respond to his house to help him and take care of him. But he was always upbeat, which was inspiring, Pruitt said.
“He was a gutsy, gutsy person,” Pruitt said. “He made the best of life he could, even in the face of pretty much being restricted to that wheelchair.”
Lambert’s brothers in the fire service even helped him out when his van broke down. Wayne Township firefighters were able to get a van donated to him and help get it set up for him, Pruitt said.
Learning of Lambert’s death was hard for those in the fire community. Lambert had been in the hospital for roughly a week before he died, Sparks said.
The morning Lambert died, a friend of his came by the station during a shift change to tell them of the news. The friend was crying, and as soon as Sparks saw him, he knew Lambert had died.
There were a lot of people Lambert had touched and impacted over the years, including Sparks.
“He was a good friend of mine, and I’m really going to miss having him around [and] at my desk here in the office,” Sparks said.
A part of Lambert’s legacy will be the importance of safety. It’s not just about safety at fire scenes, but responding to and from them. The circumstances of that crash, not wearing seat belts, is not an uncommon practice as firefighters rush to respond to a scene, Pruitt said.
“It’s just a reminder that things can go bad really quick, and we have to do everything we can to make sure that we’re leaving the firehouse and keeping safety in mind all the way to the scene and all the way back,” he said.
Lambert’s legacy will also be one of perseverance and positivity in the face of a challenge, along with an “incredible love” of the fire service, Sparks said.
Lambert is survived by his father Steve Lambert, mother Sharon Kay, son Michael Allen Lambert and grandson Chet Michael Lambert, other relatives, his church family at Olivet Missionary Baptist Church and friends. He was laid to rest Tuesday.
