HollyMatkinBuena Vista, VA – Buena Vista police rushed into a burning home to save a woman from the flames that nearly took her life (video below).
Officers received a report of the structure fire at approximately 7 p.m. on June 9, WDBJ reported.
“The officers responded,” Buena Vista Police Lieutenant Mitchell Harrison told the news outlet. “They were the first to arrive on the scene, along with another volunteer firefighter that came to the scene.”
When they arrived, they learned that none of the neighbors had seen the woman who lived in the burning residence, and it was feared she was still inside.
The officers rushed towards the house as smoke billowed into the sky, the bodycam footage showed.
“They made some attempts to go in the house and had to turn around because the smoke was so thick,” Lt. Harrison told WDBJ.
“[It was] very hot, very smoky, very dark, the visibility was very, very low,” Sergeant John Snider told WSET.
“You don’t really have time to think. You just do,” Sgt. Snider explained. “In this situation, we thought someone was inside and we were going to do everything we could to try to save that person.”
Someone tossed a rock through the front door window of the residence, which allowed some of the smoke inside to escape, bodycam footage showed.
The officer immediately kicked through the shards of glass and reached inside to open the front door.
They found the woman in her living room and rushed her to medics waiting outside, WDBJ reported.
The officers also pulled the woman’s three dogs to safety, but one did not survive its injuries, police said.
The woman sustained non-life threatening injuries and was taken to Duke University Hospital for treatment.
“You know, willing to go in without protection … without giving it a second thought to save the life of another person is remarkable,” Lt. Harrison said of the officers’ heroic effort.
“You just have to jump in and find something to do, and do whatever needs to be done at that time,” Sgt. Snider told WSET. “I feel like it’s an everyday thing here and anyone of us would have done the same thing.”
Only two months earlier, Buena Vista officers rushed into another burning home to rescue a dog trapped inside, bodycam footage showed.
“Come here, baby,” the officer said in the video as he searched the home. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
He then scooped up the small dog and brought it out to the waiting arms of its smiling owner.
You can watch the officers’ heroic rescue in the video below: