A year after a homecoming bonfire explosion sent scores to hospital, one Pulaski grad talks about his recovery

PULASKI - A year ago, a homecoming celebration turned into tragedy when a bonfire explosion injured over a dozen teenagers the night of Oct. 14, 2022, at a rural home.

Seven Pulaski High School alumni were flown to a burn unit in Milwaukee. While everyone at the party survived, some spent weeks and months recovering from second- and third-degree burns. And, even though the explosion itself was contained to one property, the aftermath rocked Pulaski, a village of about 3,500 northwest of Green Bay.

The incident was covered in statewide and national media including The Washington Post. Eventually, as fall turned to winter, it faded from national attention.

But for one of the survivors, 19-year-old Brandon Brzeczkowski, the road to recovery has run for much longer.

A house party quickly turns into disaster; survivor was burned on 40% of his body

On the evening of Oct. 14, 2022, Brandon's mother, Tammy Brzeczkowski, remembered she made her son a grilled cheese sandwich for supper before he went to the homecoming game at Pulaski High School.

Her right foot was broken at the time, and her husband, Bruce Brzeczkowski and her older sons were out of town. She told Brandon at the dinner table, "Boy, it's sure nice that you're here with me."

Brandon, who had graduated Pulaski High School the previous year, went to the homecoming game and left at halftime to go to the bonfire at the house on Cedar Drive in the Shawano County town of Maple Grove.

At 10:50 p.m., two teenagers threw a 55-gallon drum, still a quarter full with diesel and fuel, onto the fire. About half a second later, the drum exploded.

Brandon said he had been texting his mother and getting ready to leave when the explosion hit him.

Several of the burn survivors described hearing a "whoosh" sound, feeling intense heat, and seeing fire engulf them. One told investigators he had been blown backwards. Another said she had received burns while standing 20 to 30 feet away. A parent told the Press-Gazette last October that his son saw the fire "squirting out like a firehose and it was just hitting people."

The survivors described their friends trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies. And, one by one, they starting taking each other to local hospitals.

Brandon's grandfather, who lived down the road, took him to a local hospital. One of Tammy's friends took her there.

Initially, they all thought just his hands were burnt, and the black color on his face "was just soot," Tammy said. But they quickly realized how serious his condition was when his face started swelling.

"The only thing I remember is not being able to see," Brandon said.

First responders called a jet from Minnesota to take Brandon and six others to the burn unit in Milwaukee.

Tammy and her parents drove two hours there to meet Brandon "not knowing what was what was going to happen."

While no one died in the explosion, Bruce said doctors at the time told him Brandon's long-term survival wasn't guaranteed. Brandon had suffered burns on his face, hands and legs — nearly 40% of his body.

He spent 19 days at St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, undergoing surgery and skin grafts on his hands, face and legs. Because of the swelling in his face, Brandon was intubated for almost a week. On the third day, he wrote, through wrapped hands, "I want to go home."

After first discharge from the hospital comes a long recovery

The next 12 months were marked with the long, slow, labor-intensive work of healing.

When he first got home from the hospital in early November, Brandon couldn't get up by himself and had to be helped into a chair, Bruce said.

Brandon also underwent countless rounds of re-bandaging his wounds with the help of nurses, doctors and his parents, a painful process that could take hours and had to be done at least once a day. He was "really strict" about keeping his skin clean in order to avoid infection, Brandon said.

He was finally able to transition from bandages to compression leggings and gloves in the spring, but while his skin was finally healing in April, the itching was nearly unbearable, to the point where he had to take medication.

In all, Brandon underwent seven surgeries and two more hospital stays to repair his burned skin. The last surgery was in June, where a laser put "probably a hundred little holes every square inch" on his hands to reduce scar tissue, Tammy said. He had to rest his hands for three or four weeks that summer.

He also did physical, occupational and speech therapy, and spent a three-hour session in a hyperbaric chamber. His family described traveling to four different cities in order to get him help.

But Brandon said one of the worst parts of the whole process was waiting for the burn sores to heal — and having to completely rest until then, refraining from most of his normal activities. While his skin was vulnerable, he couldn't even touch his pets.

Brandon said he sometimes still thinks about the what-ifs. He'd been wearing a ski jacket that night and had taken it off five minutes before the explosion. If he'd still been wearing it, he wonders, would it have melted onto his arms?

"You just don't know," he said.

Help and well-wishes come to Brzeczkowskis from the wider community — even from out of state

As Brandon continued to recover, support from their families and the wider community kept the Brzeczkowskis going.

They expressed gratitude for "the good people around us," in Bruce's words.

"We would not ever have gotten through any of this without (them)," Tammy said.

Immediately after the explosion, Brandon's older brothers, Zach and Josh Brzeczkowski, stepped up to help. Bruce said Josh drove to Prairie du Chien, where Bruce had been playing with a polka band, and took him to Milwaukee, driving 13 hours in one day. In the days afterward, Zach helped answer phones at Tammy and Bruce's business, while Josh took care of chores at the house.

Others helped the Brzeczkowskis, too. Tammy's sister, Jen Ziech, wasted no time launching a GoFundMe page for Brandon. The page has raised over $46,000 for his medical treatments and regular updates on his progress were posted there. Employees and clients at Tammy and Bruce's design business adjusted to their traveling for Brandon's medical treatments.

The Pulaski community came together in an outpouring of support for all the burn survivors and their families. Charities, businesses and individuals raised over $170,000 over the two weeks following the fire and offered the survivors and their families gift cards, supplies for traveling out of town to Milwaukee, and free counseling services.

During an interview, Tammy showed a box full of hundreds of cards — "and that's not even all of them," she said. Many of them were from complete strangers. Some were from other burn survivors and their families.

"We found out how many people had (suffered burn injuries)," Tammy said, including a nurse at the Milwaukee burn unit who had also been burned by a bonfire.

The Brzeczkowskis said the community continues to support them a year after the explosion. The community held a fundraiser for the family in the spring, Brandon receives a card from a well-wisher every month, and Tammy said people still ask her how he's doing.

Brandon said, "It's kind of crazy how far (knowledge of the explosion) goes and how many people (who were burned) actually know and can relate."

As explosion aftermath plays out in court, survivor looks ahead to what's next

The legal fallout from the explosion is ongoing. Fox 11 reported an unidentified 16-year-old was tried last February in Brown County's juvenile court; he was ordered to spend 40 hours of volunteer time with burn survivors along with six months of community supervision. An 18-year-old from Pittsfield awaits his trial date and has pleaded not guilty to 13 felony counts of injury by negligent use of a weapon or explosive.

In the meantime, Brandon is picking up where his life left off — and doing so while dealing with his scars.

While he can do most of his normal tasks, he said he has to "be careful." He can bend his knees "like a baseball catcher," he said, but he can't kneel for more than a few seconds. He takes extra care of his hands and other burn scars to make sure they don't tighten up.

Despite the challenges, he takes pride in his work at a construction company. He was happy to get back into a routine when he returned to work two months ago.

"I like seeing buildings get put up and seeing them finished ... getting them to the point where it is built," he said.

Bruce chimed in, saying when the family visits Green Bay, Brandon points out structures he worked on.

On weekends when he comes back to Pulaski, Brandon has also been golfing and bowling with his family. As the weather turns colder, he's looking forward to ice fishing season.

Maybe he'd like to travel someday, he said. He talked about a previous visit to California and how he'd like to go back to the beaches there.

Bruce agreed, saying, "We're probably due for a family vacation, don't you think?"

Rebecca Loroff is a breaking and trending news reporter for northeastern Wisconsin. Contact her with story tips and feedback at rloroff@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Teen talks recovery, community a year after Pulaski bonfire explosion