Man receives Civilian Lifesaving Award after saving neighbor in Bedford County

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BEDFORD COUNTY (WSLS) - Many people train and pledge to save lives in the face of a house fire, but one local man stepped up in a time of need.

We were there as the Bedford Fire Department honored Gil Warren for his heroic actions.

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A diner off 220 in Franklin County isn't a typical spot for the Bedford County Fire Department to present the Civilian Lifesaving Award, but Gil couldn't attend the ceremony in June, so they brought it to him.

The road to the award started at a duplex, he shared with an elderly man, on Shingle Block Road in Bedford County.

"I was just sitting there and the smoke detectors went off and there was no smoke in my house, so I was kind of just baffled a little bit trying to figure out what's going on, so I walked outside and I seen the fire through the window and I heard him like screaming for help," Gill recalled.

What happened next is what Fire Chief Jack Jones says makes him worthy of the award.

"Instincts kicked in, I went through the door and grabbed him and took him out.  I knew he had oxygen tanks in there, so I ran in there to try to throw those out," explained Gil.

"He did not care about his own safety, he didn't care about the environment he was going in to, which was very, very hot, very smoky, and he truly is a hero when we look at all of the things firefighters and police officers do with training and equipment and resources. He just went and did it like a bare knuckle boxer," Chief Jones said.

"He just went in the door and saved a gentleman's life and he certainly could have been easily injured himself, but that wasn't important to him at that point."

The chief adds in all his years of leading the Bedford County Fire Department only one other person has received the award.

Gil says he often thinks about what could have happened in the home.

"I could have decided to be 15, 20 minutes late and that man might have lost his life, I just feel like it was a purpose and it was definitely a defining moment in my life."

"If Mr. Warren had not been there we would have been telling a different story, because that guy probably would not have survived," said Jeff Pauley, Fire Marshal.

However, the story is a positive one that ends with Gil holding the Civilian Lifesaving Award.


About the Author:

After working and going to school in Central Virginia for over five years, Lindsey’s made her way back home to the mountains.