Glendale Firefighter Upgraded to Serious

The condition of Glendale Firefighter Bill Jensen, the most severely burned of six firemen injured in the Calabasas-Malibu fire, improved Friday from critical to serious, but doctors remained cautious about predicting his full recovery.

“[Jensen] weathered this particular crisis but is certainly not yet out of the woods,” said Dr. A. Richard Grossman of the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital and Health Center.

Jensen, 52, was burned over 70% of his body on Oct. 22, during the Calabasas-Malibu fire when a gust of wind suddenly shifted wild flames that trapped him and five other firefighters.

The others were eventually released from the hospital.

But after four surgeries, Jensen remained hospitalized in serious condition.

On Monday doctors rushed Jensen back into surgery a day before his fifth scheduled operation because his body had begun showing signs of sepsis--a toxic condition brought on by bacteria from dead skin spreading into the bloodstream.

Jensen again ended up in critical condition on a respirator. But by Friday he could sit up in bed, eat and talk to his family and friends, according to Larry Weinberg, a hospital spokesman.

The firefighter is scheduled to undergo more surgery on Monday, Weinberg said.

As with other surgeries, the primary objective will be to remove dead tissue and cover those areas with cadaver skin, grafts of his own skin or human skin cells grown in the laboratory, he said.