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Badly burned in WA wildfire, firefighter's rapid healing 'stumps doctors'

A badly burned firefighter from Okanogan County who spent nearly three weeks in the burn unit at Harborview Medical Center in August has been cleared to return for duty, after he recovered far faster than doctors predicted.
"I have full job duties, no restrictions," said Brett Read, who returned to Seattle from his home in Omak to receive an award and deliver an inspirational speech.
"The doctors were really surprised at how quickly and how fast it was healing," he said.
Read suffered disfiguring burns to his hands, arms, face and ears as he battled the Grass Valley wildfire, which torched several square miles in Grant and Douglas counties.
Read became separated from his truck near Grand Coulee when strong winds suddenly changed direction, pushing fire toward him, forcing him to run for his life through flames as high as his helmet, toward another moving fire truck.
Read was airlifted to Harborview, where doctors mummified his arms and head in gauze. The skin was burned off his hands and part of his nose was gone. His family said the only thing which didn't burn were his eyes, and his irrepressible positive spirit.
“Other people burned like this have skin grafts, but somehow, I still have had no surgeries to this day," he said.
Read's left ear is still bright red and raw and he wears protective gloves to protect the healing red skin on his hands, but he says the rest of him is a gift from God in progress.
"It's a miracle dude," he said. "It's him. I couldn't do this on my own. I can't heal that fast. How does somebody heal like this? So quickly? It stumps doctors."
Read is a third-generation firefighter, but he asked his wife for her opinion about his return to work.
"I'm almost 40 years old," he said. "I've been doing this since I was 18, and I asked her 'Is it time to slow down?' And she looked at me right there and said what are you going to do? This is your love, this is your passion, and you can't stop."'
Read says he's now studying to also be a paramedic, so he can broaden his lifesaving skills. "I want to help people," he said.

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