Getting your player ready...
WHEAT RIDGE — Wheat Ridge Fire Chief Jim Payne is in critical condition at St. Anthony Central Hospital after falling from a ladder while trimming a tree at his home.
Payne, who has headed the Wheat Ridge Fire Protection District for the past five years, is in a medically induced coma, said Doug Saba, Wheat Ridge fire marshal.
“They needed to do that to stabilize him,” Saba said.
Payne has been a member of the fire district for more than 14 years.
Previously, he worked for Coors Ceramics.
Payne, who volunteered for his local fire department as a boy in Pennsylvania, graduated from Arvada High School in 1973.
He is married and has children, Saba said.
