FIREFIGHTER RESCUES OWN


By Todd Rhoads
HV staff

Twenty-year-old Hyattsville volunteer firefighter Marshall Davies keeps in his fire coat a fireman action figure he's had since he was two.

Davies carries the toy around for good luck, and it may have come in handy just after last Christmas when Davies made a harrowing rescue.

For probably saving another firefighter's life, Davies received the Prince George's County monthly emergency services award, given to a firefighter who performs an outstanding service.

Davies was part of a Hyattsville fire crew sent to a three-alarm apartment fire. The crew was sent to the back of the four-level complex to see if they could get to the fire, which was burning in two of three buildings.

While searching his way through the second floor of the building, Davies saw an 8 by 8 hole extending from the fourth floor to the basement. He decided to let the rest of the crew continue their search while he stayed to make sure nobody fell through it.

Davies heard another fire crew on the third floor. Not knowing the hole was there, a volunteer captain from Berwyn Heights Company 14 was walking backwards above Davies. Suddenly he plunged through the hole and barely managed to catch his coat on a piece of wood on the edge of the second floor, with only Davies there to save him.

"He probably would either have been burned or fallen all the way through the floor to the basement because there was no way he could have gotten up by himself," said Davies.

"There was fire below him and fire above him, and if he didn't fall he could have run out of air and died that way."

Davies jumped across the hole, and grabbed his hand, holding on until another fireman grabbed his feet. Then Davies tried to pull him up by the shoulder, when he began panicking and ripped off Davies' air mask.

"Then all that smoke hit me, and after I pulled him up off the hole, I don't really remember much after that," Davies said. "I know I staggered out of the building somehow and I fell down face first in the snow, and someone picked me up and took me to an ambulance."

While Davies stayed in a hospital for several hours with carbon monoxide poisoning, the volunteer captain from Berwyn Heights was unharmed.

"He didn't receive any injuries at all," Davies said proudly, "other than a couple bumps and bruises."

Although Davies said he let his instincts take over during the rescue, while holding onto the captain, he repeated one thought in his head.

"I was thinking, I'm not going to let this man die, and I'm not going down in that hole either. We're getting him up," Davies said.

Davies has wanted to make rescues like that one since he was young. He heard stories from his father and grandfather, who both had been firefighters, and joined the department as soon as he could, at age 16.

Davies has devoted much of his life so far to being a firefighter. In addition to being a sergeant at the Hyattsville station, he is a fire science major at Montgomery College and spends most of his time at the station or hanging out with the close-knit group of firefighters.

Although Davies does not know whether he wants to make fire fighting a permanent career, he knows there is nothing else he enjoys as much.

"It's hard to explain - when you go to a building fire, or to a bad accident, when it's all said and done, and you did a good job, it's just an awesome sense of accomplishment," Davies said. "It's more than you could get from doing any other kind of work. You just feel good about yourself and what you've done. You like to think you've made a difference. 'Cause you're the citizens last resort. If you can't help them, no one could help them."

Hyattsville Chief Donald "Doc" Moltrup said Davies' deed was certainly heroic but pointed out that any of Hyattsville's others firefighters would have done the same.

"Our firefighters don't get enough recognition, but that's partly our fault," Moltrup said. "Our members often do things in their day to day fire fighting and rescue work that is praiseworthy, but they are not often recognized for it."


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Updated 4/15/96