HFD firefighter partially paralyzed after fall while on the job

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A Honolulu firefighter fractured his vertebrae after falling off the fire truck while on the job last month. HFD leaders say injuries on the job are expected. But serious incidents like this are rare and are hitting the department hard.

Nate Soh is a 24-year veteran of the Honolulu Fire Department. A 3rd-generation firefighter. Described as embodying the best part of the job. Right now, he needs help.

“About a month ago, Nate suffered a fall off of a fire truck where he experienced a neck injury,” said Capt. Jaimie Song, Honolulu Fire Department. “The following day he had surgery on that neck injury, and he has left with some deficits at this time.”

Official say Soh is paralyzed from the waist down but has shown some positive signs.

“Nate was able to demonstrate some purposeful movements on his lower extremities, on his feet, so that is always encouraging with these kind of spinal cord injuries,” said Chief Russ Young, HFD Battalion 1 Chief.

Last week, Soh was transported to a rehab hospital in Colorado where he’ll be for several months.

According to the state’s labor department, there have been 123 injury claims from HFD in 2022, 199 in 2023, 271 in 2024 and 163 so far this year.

Soh is stationed at Kalihi Kai, which falls under the same battalion as Jeff Fiala, who died in January while responding to a house fire in McCully. Young is battalion chief for both and says walking into the hospital for one of his firefighters is tough.

“The people at Queens, the doctors, the nurses, the care teams, our care coordinator, you know, they’re the ones that put us back together and allow us to get back to our job and serve the community,” said Young. “And that’s not an easy task.”

“We do see injuries on the job, it is a very physical job, there’s inherent risks to what we do,” said Song. “As far as the severity of Nate’s injury, that is something that is quite rare. So this is a little bit more serious for us as a family of HFD, and we’re trying to help him as much as possible.”

There is a GoFundMe to help Soh through his rehab and hopefully beyond.

“For us, it’s a little different because we’re so used to being the role of the supporters for the community, that it’s humbling and overwhelming to see the shoe on the other foot and see how much the community has come forward and helped us out with the generosity and the kindness,” said Young.

Friends say Soh is an avid waterman and Courts is his home break. So they say the hope, the goal, the dream is for him to be back out here again one day, on his paddleboard, enjoying the waves again.