Courage and Valor Nominee: Rob Brown

The Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award, presented by the Fire Engineering Courage and Valor Foundation, commemorates the life and career achievements of Deputy Chief Ray Downey, chief of rescue operations and 39-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). Meet this year’s nominees for the award, which is presented annually at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis, Indiana.
    
Firefighter/EMT Rob Brown, Wheat Ridge Fire Department, Centennial, Colorado. He has been a member of the fire service for three years.

Comment: “[Wives] of a firefighter know that if you hear from them one minute, and they get a fire call, they will take the fire call over coming home.” Mrs. Rob (Kara) Brown

Scenario

On November 21, 2009, Rob Brown went to the station for SIM Lab Training. He had been there all day. Around 5 p.m., he sent his wife a text saying that he was finished. They were scheduled to go out with another firefighter and his wife that evening.

Then, the tone dropped, and the four firefighters ran out of the door for a possible structure fire with the smell of smoke. On arrival, nothing was showing, and the crew felt it was going to be a routine call with something as simple as burned food.

Brown and his partner went in. They found very light smoke conditions in the back hallway. While searching, the room flashed over, and they became trapped in a fully involved fire. Brown and his partner were trying to find a way out. They heard the window break; they headed toward the noise. They knew that it was the window in the room and that this was going to be their way out. When they arrived at the window, it was still partially intact and its metal framing was preventing them from exiting. They continued to attempt to break the window to escape. Eventually, the exterior crew pulled them through the window and framing.

Obviously, this was much later than he had been expected home. He called his wife from the scene to let her know why he wasn’t home yet and to tell her that he was okay. He asked her to make phone calls to the family and let them know he was okay before the news hit the airwaves. He did not tell her of the severity of his situation at the time. He wanted to protect his wife. When she ended the phone call, she went to the Internet to see if she could find any news on the incident. She saw live footage from the Mayday call at the fire scene in Wheat Ridge. Flames were engulfing the window from which Brown had exited. That’s she realized the true severity of the situation.

 

MARY JANE DITTMAR is senior associate editor of Fire Engineering and conference manager of FDIC. Before joining the magazine in January 1991, she served as editor of a trade magazine in the health/nutrition market and held various positions in the educational and medical advertising fields. She has a bachelor’s degree in English/journalism and a master’s degree in communication arts.

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