THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603070169
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: THUMBS UP
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
STANDING FIRE WATCH, controlling traffic and hauling fire hoses are not found in the job description for the city's storm water environmental technicians.
Neither is leading small children from a burning building, drying their tears and assuring them that the family cat will escape safely.
None of that, however, made any difference Jan. 25 when Public Works employees Chris Masterson and Keith DeHart, whose main job is to monitor the city's storm water runoff, saw a suspicious plume of smoke and decided to trace it.
``We were coming from the city garage,'' said Masterson, a 17-year city employee, ``and when we got to the corner of Princess Anne and Seaboard we saw smoke coming up from in back of Mount Zion church.''
At first, the pair thought it was coming from a trash fire, but when the smoke suddenly began billowing they decided to check it out.
When Masterson and DeHart, an 11-year city employee, looked behind the church they found flames and heavy smoke spewing from the back of a home on Waterpump Circle in the nearby Southgate subdivision.
While DeHart took the truck down Princess Anne Road toward the subdivision entrance, Masterson ran through the 200 feet of woods separating the church parking lot from the home.
``I called the dispatcher (on his personal communication device) while I was running and told them to send a full structural fire response,'' said Masterson, the former deputy chief of the Beach Borough volunteer fire company.
``The first thing that went through my mind when I got to the front of the house was that there was nobody at home on the whole court.''
There was, however, a passer-by stopped in front of the house, also calling the dispatcher on her cellular phone. Masterson told her to give the dispatcher the address, which he didn't have when he made his call.
When Masterson reached the front door, he discovered five children, ages 6 to 11, all at home because it was a teachers' work day.
The youngsters were unaware of the blaze at the rear of the house.
Masterson ushered the children out and attempted, with the help of the passer-by, to calm the younger ones. ``She was a lot of help with kids,'' said Masterson, who in the confusion did not get the woman's name. ``The little one was real upset because his cat was still in the house but I told him it would be OK because the door was open and he would run out.''
DeHart, who had arrived by then with their pickup, directed traffic away from the court and kept onlookers clear of the arriving emergency equipment.
Both continued to help firefighters with traffic control and in running hoses. When their help was no longer needed, they went back to the jobs that had been scheduled for the afternoon: inspecting several non-emergency hazardous material spills.
``Then we went back to the shop and restocked our truck,'' DeHart said, ``just like any other day.''
Working with police, fire and rescue crews is not a particularly unusual happening for the pair. In addition to their inspections, they also respond to emergency spills such as the tanker truck that overturned several weeks ago on I-64 at the Indian River Road overpass.
Even their primary job has an element of the unusual. They're the only two full-time city employees working in the position that was developed in response to recent changes in environmental laws.
``We're kind of writing the book on what we do as we go,'' DeHart admitted. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JO-ANN CLEGG
Public Works employees Chris Masterson, left, and Keith DeHart,
whose main job is to monitor the city's storm water runoff,
responded to a plume of smoke and helped firefighters at a Southgate
home with five children.
by CNB