Newburgh firefighter's life upended after car crash, colleagues raise thousands as his paychecks may soon stop
"It's a completely different lifestyle that I'm faced with," Guillermo Mollins said of his condition since January 3rd when Mollins' car was hit by a wrong-way driver on the New Jersey Turnpike.
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A Newburgh firefighter severely injured in a crash with a wrong-way driver is receiving help from firefighters to keep him afloat as his paychecks are about to cease.
"It's a completely different lifestyle that I'm faced with," Guillermo Mollins said of his condition since Jan. 3, when Mollins' car was hit by a wrong-way driver on the New Jersey Turnpike.
Mollins has already had several surgeries to treat fractures in his face, a broken leg, a broken pelvis and a neck injury that has reduced feeling on the left side of his body.
Mollins, a U.S. Army veteran, Newburgh firefighter and father, spoke with News 12 over the phone Friday from his hospital bed, describing his injuries and praising the outreach of firefighters from Newburgh to Northern New Jersey.
"Donations, calls, tests, reaching out, visits. That keeps me going," he said. "It keeps me wanting to fight."
His colleagues at the fire department said that in the best-case scenario, Mollins' recovery will last six months.
As a four-year city firefighter who was just cleared to return to work from a previous injury, Mollins' available sick leave is about to run out, at which point he will have to take an unpaid leave of absence.
Newburgh firefighters have already raised close to $40,000 to help Mollins and his 10-year-old son with living expenses.
"He has a lot of damage. We don't know what's going to happen," Mollins' friend and union president Marquis Taylor said Friday. "We want to do what we can to help him during this time and hopefully get him back to work, because he may be out of work for a year, year and a half, without pay."
Other departments have also reached out to help Mollins in his recovery.
Hackensack firefighters who pulled Mollins from his mangled car have been visiting him in the hospital.
The Westchester Fire Academy, where Mollins trained, is holding benefit for him.
The family of a fellow fire Newburgh fighter is organizing a Pocketbook Bingo night with proceeds to be sent to Mollins' family.
Those events and gestures are fueling Mollins.
"As long as the department accepts me back, I will be back," he said. "I want to make a full recovery. I'll definitely be back fighting fires. There's no question about that."
Taylor said other firefighters who want to transfer their available sick leave to Mollins to keep him on the payroll longer are unable to do so since there is not a leave transfer program spelled out in their contract with the city.
Taylor said he plans to request that city administrators add a memorandum of understanding to allow the transfer of sick days during the current contract.
Newburgh city administrators were not immediately available to answer questions about whether they are open to such a contract addendum.
Mollins is expected to be released from the hospital soon and then head to a rehab facility, Taylor said.
