Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408230068
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
Freeman was nominated by his chief, Bill Whitsett, after Freeman was involved in a rescue effort to save a woman trapped in a house fire in December.
Freeman, 30, also is a lieutenant with the Giles County Lifesaving Crew.
Freeman received the award last Tuesday at the association's annual conference, held this year in Richmond.
In mid-December, he was the first emergency worker to arrive at a Castle Rock Road house fire, where he saw two people standing in the yard yelling for help.
Lorene Lucas was trapped in the house and her son-in-law, Albert Gillispie, was trying to free her. From the outside, Gillispie and Freeman were able to pull the elderly woman to a window so she could take in fresh air.
Freeman tried to enter the house but the smoke knocked him back. He radioed for more help once he could tell Lucas was near respiratory arrest. Freeman and Gillispie both inhaled a lot of smoke by the time the first fire and rescue squad members arrived.
Lucas was removed from the house with the help of two other men and put in an ambulance.
Freeman drove the ambulance to Giles Memorial Hospital, where he fell out of the ambulance and was grabbed by nurses.
He was placed on oxygen and hospitalized overnight. Lorene Lucas had burns on her arm and had blisters on her back and shoulders. She was placed on a respirator and treated at the University of Virginia's burn center.
by CNB