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Chatham Officer Rescues Woman from Burning Building

On December 18th Officer Robin Brachear with the Chatham Police Department responded to a report of a structure fire. Dispatch advised the entire home was on fire.


Officer Brachear arrived on scene and immediately noticed smoke billowing out of the south window of the residence. He also noticed a young toddler boy, 2 to 3 years of age, running towards the home that was currently on fire. Officer Brachear exited his squad car quickly and picked up the little boy. He brought him over to the safety of a nearby neighbor who was standing outside watching the fire.


Officer Brachear returned to the home and entered it through the front door. He saw smoke throughout that was so dark he could not see the ceiling. Bending down and peering through the smoke, he could make out what appeared to be a person attempting to put the fire out. The person appeared to be in obvious distress, and he yelled at them with no response. The smoke was so thick he could not breathe. Officer Brachear ran out to his squad car and quickly retrieved his fire extinguisher. He returned to the residence and sprayed the fire the best he could. He then located the woman and quickly escorted her outside the residence to safety.


The Chatham Fire Department arrived on scene shortly thereafter. They were able to extinguish the blaze.


"๐™’๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ง๐™ง๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™จ๐™˜๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฌ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™š ๐™—๐™ค๐™ฎ, ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™™ ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ง๐™ช๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ž๐™ก๐™š๐™ง. ๐™’๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™„ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฌ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ž๐™™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ž๐™ก๐™š๐™ง, ๐™„ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š. ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™จ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ญ๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™—๐™–๐™ง๐™š๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™—๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ๐™๐™š, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™„ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™—๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™. ๐™„ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™› ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™™๐™ž๐™™๐™ฃ'๐™ฉ ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™ก๐™ฎ, ๐™จ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™จ๐™จ ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™จ๐™ช๐™˜๐™˜๐™ช๐™ข๐™— ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™จ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™๐™–๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ" said Officer Brachear




Chatham Police officials say "Officer Brashear is to be commended for his quick thinking and efforts on this call. Risking his own life and safety, he went into the burning home to rescue the woman still inside of it. Considering the little boy he noticed immediately after arriving on scene running towards the trailer that his mother was inside of, it is very possible he saved not only one life, but two. His actions bring great credit upon himself, the Chatham Police Department, and the Village of Chatham. We could not possibly be any more proud of him.


We also want to recognize the Chatham Fire Departmentย for their critical role in this fire call. Public safety is all about teamwork, and we are proud to work alongside a great group of men and women at CFD."

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