RIDGEWAY, Ohio (WCMH) — After 88 days in the hospital battling COVID-19, the Ridgeway volunteer fire department’s chief is finally home.

On Dec. 15, 2020, Jim Newland started to feel ill with COVID-19. A friend loaned his wife, Deb Newland, a pulse oximeter. They found Jim’s oxygen was dangerously low.

By the time he got to Marion General hospital, Jim Newland was in the fight of his life.

Happily, Newland won. After nearly three months in the hospital, on March 19, 2021, he finally rang the bell to go home.

He didn’t realize it, but the county fire departments had lined the route home, coming out to wave at him and cheer him on with a parade of vehicles.

“People from Lima, all the way back to Kenton, any fire department where I had jurisdiction out in that area, had their trucks out by the road, and had their lights flashing, and standing out by their trucks waving,” Newland said. “I had no idea any of this was going to happen. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

He’s had a stream of visitors and well-wishers since, and takes laps around the house with his oxygen. Soon he hopes to be off the machine altogether.

“Tell everybody I’m one blessed man and appreciate the support of the brotherhood of firefighters. It’s awesome and I really appreciate it,” Newland concluded.