On July 24th, at approximately 7:45 p.m., Lt. Scott Finn was on routine patrol in District Heights when he saw heavy, black smoke. Lt. Finn called the police dispatcher and asked if a call for a fire had gone out. It hadn’t. He requested the fire department respond to the 1900 block of Rochell Avenue for a possible fire.
Lt. Finn arrived at the building, and saw it was on fired and told a woman who didn’t realize the building was burning to get out. The woman said there were a lot of people inside. Lt. Finn ran in as the fire started moving to the front of the building. When asked if he hesitated before going in, Lt. Finn said, “You don't think about it, you just do it." The officer is a 17-year veteran and recipient of 25 department awards, including Officer of the Year.
Lt. Finn ran inside banging on doors, and kicked in one where a woman had been asleep. He got her out and she asked if he’d gotten the people out across the hall. It was chain locked, but he kicked that in too and got out a woman and a young girl. On the fourth floor, there were dogs on a balcony but the railing was melting and Lt. Finn couldn’t get to them. There were no smoke alarms going off. Lt. Finn and now Cpl. Rickie Adey, who had just arrived to help, then came upon an apartment with three men. The officers rescued them as well. At that point, debris was raining down from the building. Some of it shattered Lt. Finn’s windshield. The Prince George’s County Fire Department arrived and took it from there.
For more information about the fire, visit the Fire/EMS Department News blog: http://goo.gl/0KYPE
1 comment:
Thank you both so much for your quick thinking and immediate action. Like so many heroes, I know you both feel like you were "just doing the job." In turn, I just wanted to take a moment to say how incredible that "just doing" is!28
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