Aaron VanRiper was called the scene of a head-on collision between a pickup truck and a car - and discovered that the victims were his wife and 7-year-old son.
‘It’s my family. My wife was laying there on the ground,’ he said.
‘I don’t know how either one of them lived - There was nothing left of that car,’ the assistant fire chief added.
Aaron’s wife Amber, 28, was thrown from the car, with their son, Jonathan, discovered pinned inside.
‘Once I saw my son, I started going into a little bit of a panic mode,’ he told local news outlet KTRK.
The family were then airlifted to Memorial Herman Hospital in Houston, where Jonathan underwent surgery for his broken arm and leg.
Wife Amber meanwhile underwent a nine hour surgery on Sunday to fix her broken pelvis, though she was able to give a thumbs up to the doctor following surgery.
And on Monday, Aaron shared the good news on his Facebook page that she had managed to whisper a few words to him:
‘I have good news; this morning my loving and very stubborn wife decided that a half hour before they were going to remove her breathing tube that being fully restrained and sliding her fractured hand from her splint that she has had enough of the tube and removed it herself.
'Her nurse and doctors were not very pleased but she is now tube free and breathing on her own. We are happy with her progress, but she still has some hurdles to overcome; she had developed a blood clot in her pelvic area they are concerned but treating her for it.
'I still can’t express my gratitude enough to all that have donated and prayed and sent their love - thank you all from the bottom of my heart, my family is forever grateful.
'And to all my brothers and sisters in the fire departments across the country, thank you for your support.
'Amber may kick my butt later, but I wanted to share a photo - so happy my wife got to whisper "I love you" to me today.
'Iwill be setting up a page just for her to give progress reports daily. Thanks again all.’
The family do not have medical insurance, and so have set up a GoFundMe page to deal with their escalating medical bills. You can visit the site here.