THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610220097
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 57 lines
One moment, Bill Brite was driving along Landstown Court on his daily rounds as a city planner. The next, he was tugging, straining, grunting.
He was fighting to save a badly burned girl who was waiting for flames and hot gasses to snuff her life.
The 11-year-old girl with Down syndrome had given up as the fire swelled inside her home July 24th. She was lying on the floor, panicked and crying and unable to save herself, invisible under the billowing sea of smoke and soot that filled the house's first floor.
A neighbor had gone into the hot, oily smoke, but he couldn't save Amanda Fabian on his own. When it seemed certain the rescue would fail and the girl would die, Brite dashed from his car and added muscle to the neighbor's effort.
When firefighters arrived, the home's three residents, including Amanda, her 77-year-old grandmother and a 4-year-old cousin, were safely outside. Amanda was flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where she began her recovery. She was released after a week in the hospital and has returned home.
For that day's heroics, the union representing city firefighters gave Brite a life-saving award last Wednesday. The neighbor, Raymond Russell, will also get a life-saving award when he returns from a Navy deployment.
``Without his actions and bravery,'' union president Dean DaSilva said of Brite, ``those people would've suffered more injuries, or death.''
Brite, a city planner with reddish hair and a sandy moustache, accepted the award in front of a half-dozen of his family members during a union meeting in a small building behind the Kempsville fire and rescue station.
``It is a real honor to stand here among you guys and get this award,'' Brite said. ``I know you face danger every day, so this means a lot to me.''
``You deserve it,'' DaSilva answered.
Despite the honors from the city's firefighters and an earlier presentation from the mayor, Brite said he doesn't see himself as anyone special.
``It was exciting to go in and help,'' he said after the award presentation. ``People say I'm a hero, but I say I'm just a good Samaritan, and I believe if I were in the same predicament, someone would've done the same for me.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff file photo by VICKI CRONIS
Raymond Russell, second from right, walks away after helping rescue
Amanda Fabian from his neighbor's burning house on July 24. He will
receive his life-saving award when he returns from a Navy
deployment.
Photo by MARTIN GRUBE
Bill Brite, a city planner who happened to be driving by, assisted
Russell in the rescue before firefighters arrived. He received a
plaque from the city firefighters union.
KEYWORDS: HEROES by CNB