Dover AFB firefighter receives medal: saves local woman from deadly fire

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace
  • 436th AW Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  "Fire, fire, fire!" shouts an Airman. Moments later, sirens begin to blare as Airmen scurry to suit up, hurry aboard their assigned engines and race out onto the street, headed for the destination, the fire.

At Air Force bases around the world, Airman train to fight fires daily. Hopefully, when called into action, the training they receive will meet muster, will save lives.

Such was the case of a Dover Air Force Base firefighter, who was recently awarded the Kent County Medal for Heroism in a ceremony in Magnolia Aug. 14.

Tech. Sgt. Steven Stover, a 436th Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter and volunteer for the Magnolia Fire Department, was awarded the medal for a single act of heroism when he rescued an elderly woman from a major house fire in Magnolia June 29.

During a rescue, every second counts. As a veteran of another major-fire rescue, Sergeant Stover knew this fact well.

"After alerted, I drove to the fire house and put my gear on and got on the truck," he said. "The fire was burning for at least five minutes before we arrived on scene."

The scene at the house was worse than he had imagined.

"When the engine got on scene, there was fire coming out the front of the house," he said. "People on scene said there was someone in the back bedroom and they could hear her coughing."

Smoke inhalation is dangerous - even deadly. Sergeant Stover knew that her time was limited if he didn't act quickly.

"I went to the back with Robbie Roe, another Magnolia firefighter, and made entry into the bedroom through a window," he said. "The room was completely full of smoke and very hot. I found her lying on the bed. Robbie and I disentangled her from the bed rail and got her out the window to other firefighters who preformed first aid on her until paramedics arrived."

The rescue took Sergeant Stover and Mr. Roe only three minutes to complete. Still, though she was now safe, their saga would not end there.

In fact, despite the elderly woman safely being treated by fellow firefighters, the two men now had to fight for their own lives.

"We did not have a hose line in the room to protect us from the fire," recalled Sergeant Stover. "The fire was in the front of the house and was starting to go across the ceiling in the bedroom."

The scene was that of a movie, but the heat and flames were very real to the two men.

However, with the same determination Sergeant Stover portrayed in the elderly woman's rescue, his fellow firefighters all surged to protect him and Mr. Roe.

"There was a hose team at the front of the house," he said. "If they didn't fight the fire, Robbie and I would have been hurt or killed. We didn't have a hose with us - no protection from the flames."

Still, when it was said and done, neither man sustained injury. This feat, according to Rodney Coleman, 436th CES deputy fire chief, was amazing.

"He put himself at considerable risk of life and limb without any firefighting vehicles there to provide hand line protection for him," said Mr. Coleman. "He is a true hero."

Many would agree with Mr. Coleman. But the sergeant shies away from such descriptions.

"Any firefighter would have the same instinct. It's what we train to do," said Sergeant Stover, a veteran of two off-base rescues.

Though the rescues were both in Magnolia, the sergeant believes his Air Force training prepared him in both cases.

"If someone like me were to encounter a similar situation, I hope they would respond the same," he said. "But, the chance of that would be slim. If it wasn't for the training I received, which prepared me for real-world rescues, I may have failed."

Fortunately, for the woman, Mr. Roe and Sergeant Stover, that was not the case.

The event saved the life of the woman. Once her breathing was restored by the Magnolia firefighters, she was flown to Crozer Burn Center in Philadelphia.

In the end, when the people of Magnolia were trumping Sergeant Stover up as a hero, he couldn't muster the ability to agree.

"Heroes are the ones on T.V. we see as kids," he said. "As for me, I don't consider myself a hero. Besides, I could not have done this without the help of the other firefighters out there. All I remember is thinking 'We have to get her out.' The rest is a mix of training, action and reaction ... any Airman could do the same."