Oct. 30--CORSICANA -- It's the stuff heroes are made of.
When he heard a woman screaming that her baby was inside a burning home on West 10th Avenue Saturday morning, Corsicana Police Officer Dan Putman knew what he had to do.
As smoke and flames poured from the single family home near South 18 1/2 Street about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Putman went to the window the woman was standing by and heard a child crying. He pushed a bed headboard away from the window and pulled himself up into the opening up to the waist.
"That's when I saw the child's arm under the bed that I just moved," Putman said. "So instead of entering the room all the way, I just continued under the bed and grabbed her by both arms and yanked her out of the house."
Handing the child to her mother, he asked if anyone else was trapped inside. The child was the last one in the home, she said.
"Then we just cleared the area and let the fire department do its job."
Four engines and two ambulances from the Corsicana Fire Department responded to the blaze, said Fire Chief Donald McMullan.
"They got in, found most of the fire to be in the front half of the house," McMullan said. "It looks like it may have been started by a gas space heater," he added as to a preliminary cause of the blaze.
When the fire started, Greg Govan, 22, was in the home belonging to his aunt, Marilyn Massey. He was sleeping along with his wife, both having worked at their jobs at Russell Stover until 3 a.m. Their children Jazmine, 18 months; Jaylynn, 4: Jacoby, 5; and 3-year-old Jayden Jones were in the house.
"We woke up to a bunch of smoke," Govan said. "Jacoby was screaming 'Momma' ... I broke the window and got three of them out, and we were looking for Jayden. She was alone and in there screaming 'Daddy, Daddy' but I couldn't get her."
Putman then heard the girl crying inside the bedroom, and pulled her to safety.
"I've got children," Putman said of his effort to save the child. "That's my job, to put my life on the line for other people.
"It wasn't a question of 'am I going to crawl in this house' it was 'where am I going to go in this house when I get in there,'" he continued. "It just was a matter of locating the child first, and with all the people around that made it easy."
Corsicana's first responders were also responsible for rescuing a dog that was found in the rear of the home.
Firefighters Cory Campbell and David Melton pulled the male pit bull from the back of the home, and strapped an oxygen mask on the animal. It began breathing and blinking its eyes, Melton said.
"That's a good sign."
A few moments later, after the two sprinkled some water on the animal, it made its way to its feet and began to walk around, although still weak and unsteady on its feet. Animal Control officers took possession of the dog for further treatment and examination. The dog's condition is unknown.
Corsicana Police Chief Randy Bratton praised the action of Putman in rescuing the child from the burning home.
"I am proud of him," Bratton said. "His effort is an example of the hard work and dedication of the officers of the Corsicana Police Department. I am very proud."
Bratton said that Putman's efforts will be recognized by the department soon.
Copyright 2011 - Corsicana Daily Sun, Texas
