WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. – A first responder working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic said he is now fighting to keep his home.
Paramedic Julio Salgado said he has been working for the last 30 days with New York City firefighters in the epicenter of the U.S. cornavirus battle.
"We arrived on the 28th, they registered us, put us on an ambulance and sent us right out with our luggage right out into the field to start working calls," Salgado said. "We didn’t even go to the hotel."
He said he was responding to 911 calls in New York City that were a day old due to the backlog of calls and not enough paramedics.
"We had a lot of DOA calls -- dead on arrival -- where you just show up, and they were already gone. They were living by themselves, and family members hadn’t heard and checked on them."
Salgado said he returned home emotionally exhausted to Winter Springs on Tuesday to find a letter from an attorney representing his mobile home community, Hacienda Village.
It warned that if he didn't make repairs to his home in 45 days, he would be permanently removed from the lot.
Salgado said his mobile home was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and it’s taken nearly three years to secure government assistance through Rebuild Florida to repair -- and replace -- his home.
He worried the agency, run by the Department of Economic Opportunity, won’t have it completed in 45 days.
News 6 contacted Russell Klemm, the community’s attorney, to ask if Salgado could get an extension on the deadline.
Klemm said the community had been working with Salgado since August of 2019, and agreed to extend the deadline by "90 more days."
“You’ve done incredible. I just can’t believe you doubled the days,” Salgado told News 6. “That’s awesome. I was shocked. I smiled for the first time.”
On Thursday, Salgado said he found an attorney who would help him navigate the remaining steps to keeping his home.
In the meantime, he returns to the front lines on Friday conducting testing at a coronavirus testing site.