HENRICO, Va. -- An off-duty Virginia State Police trooper recovering from surgery at home is being credited with saving a Henrico couple from their burning home Tuesday.
"It was a great thing he did; it's wonderful that everything turned out the way it did," said Henrico fire Capt. Chris Buehren.
Trooper N.S. Sessoms broke through a locked front door and led an older man from the home in the 1200 block of Wilderness Drive in eastern Henrico off state Route 5. Sessoms then returned into the smoke-filled home, according to a State Police Sgt. Thomas J. Molnar, and was able to locate the man's wife in an upstairs portion of the two-story home.
The trooper and the couple all suffered minor injuries and were treated by emergency personnel at the scene, Molnar said.
Brian Page said Tuesday that his parents were both rescued from the burning home by the trooper. "I just want to thank him so much. I just want to thank him," Page said of Sessoms.
Page said his father, Thomas Page, 74, and his stepmother, Carmen, in her late 60s, were not seriously injured but became disoriented after a fire began.
Page said the source of the fire is believed to be a small television set that shorted out. "Mom was upstairs and Dad was downstairs watching the television," said Page, who was standing guard outside the house while it was boarded up.
Buehren said fire crews arrived at the scene at 5:05 p.m. and that Sessoms had already rescued the two residents.
The home suffered major damage but is likely restorable, Buehren said. The fire was under control by 9 p.m.
Molnar said Sessoms could see the home burning but also was alerted by juveniles in the area who feared for the couple. Only two people were at the home when the blaze started somewhere in the rear portion of the house, but the Red Cross was assisting three adults and four children last night. The other occupants were not at home when the fire started.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
