Culpeper officers honored after rescuing resident from house fire
Four Culpeper, Virginia, police officers received valor awards on Oct. 14 for working together to rescue a resident from a burning house earlier that month.
When officers arrived at the home on the evening of Oct. 3, smoke was pouring from its windows. Residents of the building’s separate apartments had gathered outside, but they told police that one man might still be inside.
Officer Ashley Sain entered the house without protective gear and began searching. Officer Neal Coffey followed her upstairs, where they found a locked second-floor door with smoke seeping around it. Coffey opened the lock with a small tool, and the officers called out as they searched the smoke-filled room.
Unable to see clearly, Coffey got down on the floor and moved forward with a flashlight. He found the missing resident unresponsive on a bed. “We’ve got to get him out! I have him! He’s breathing!” he called to the other officers.
Sgt. David Cole and Officer Michael Beel had also reached the second floor. Beel crawled in to help Coffey, and the four officers moved the man into the hallway. Firefighters then carried him out of the building and extinguished the fire.
The resident was taken to a hospital and later transferred to a regional burn center. Three officers were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries and were released that evening. The resident’s name and the cause of the fire have not been released because the investigation remains active.
Capt. Kevin Tooley, who supervised the scene, praised the officers’ willingness to help someone in danger. “They went above and beyond the normal call for a police department,” he said.
