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TOMBSTONE - A volunteer firefighter sacrifices his own home to help try and save a Tombstone restaurant from burning to the ground.

The fire at the Six Gun City Restaurant and Saloon broke out around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and was fully engulfed in flames before firefighters could arrive. It's a total loss and the owner said more than 30 employees are out of work.

The fire didn't just affect the bar; it also gutted two apartments and a pickup truck.
That truck and one of the apartments belonged to one of Tombstone's volunteer firefighters.

Firefighters risk their lives to save others every day but in this case one firefighter named James Dotson Jr. or just JD, a handicapped volunteer firefighter risked his own property to save someone else's and he said he didn't even think twice.

JD said, "I opened this door like this and there were flames and it was really hot. I just took off running because I didn't even care. It was so hot."

Once he was safe, he said he went straight for his truck so he could get his gear, only to find out it was already on fire.

JD said, "If I were to go up to my truck I would have got burnt big time because it was very hot."

But gear or no gear, JD wasn't going to just stand around. He started directing traffic and hooking up hoses all with one thing on his mind, and it's not the thing most people would be thinking about.

Dotson said, "I didn't even care about my place. I was just trying to help get everything so they could get fire calmed down so we could save the rest of this town."

Dedication that didn't surprise his fellow firefighters one bit. Dick Baker, another firefighter with the Tombstone Fire Department, said, "That's the kind of person JD is. He was injured in an accident years ago, has a handicap, yet he's still working hard with our department and is one of the more consistent and reliable responders."

And Dotson said despite this major set back in his life he has no plans of changing that. He said, "I'm still going to be a firefighter no matter what because I love protecting people."

JD's aunt lived next door and her place was a total loss. His apartment was damaged too but luckily most of his belongings inside were okay. Despite that, he said he's still moving out to get away from the vivid memories of the terrible fire.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Lights and dogs were brought in to help, but firefighters said it could still take a while to find the cause.