Sweet Springs police officer to receive commendation for actions during house fire

Burge stands in front of a Sweet Springs police vehicle. (Geoff Rands/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

On the evening of Dec. 29, Burge, as he said he often does, tried to overhear the content of an emergency call.

"(I) saw them writing down that there was a house fire, saw the address, so went on ahead and went to the address (to) try to size up the fire, see is it controlled, is it out of control, what's going on with it?" Burge recalled.

When he arrived, he found the home's female resident in the garage looking at the fire.

"The garage door was open, you could see the flames in the corner of it, the smoke going into the house."

Once he got the woman to a safe distance, he asked whether there were any other persons inside the home, to which she replied, yes, her wheelchair-bound husband was still inside.

"(I) went in, found him, got some blankets on him, he was in the wheelchair. I was able to get the wheelchair to the threshold of the doorway, and that's when Fire Chief Todd Anderson showed up, just perfect timing. (He) picked up the front end of the wheelchair and I picked up the back end, we got him out onto the grass and to a safe distance."

Burge said his biggest concern while working to remove the man from his home was the smoke, "especially when you have an elderly patient. You don't know if they have some sort of breathing problem: a lot of them have oxygen they put on their wheelchairs, stuff like that."

He added, "It's kind of a good thing the guy was in a wheelchair, it kept him at a lower level."

At this time, Anderson doused the fire using a five-gallon bucket that he repeatedly refilled. Following the fire truck's arrival on the scene, firefighters broke down the wall nearby the fire's previous location to "get all the hot spots," said Burge.

Burge wished to thank the neighbors of the affected home for "providing a warm place for their neighbors." He also wanted to thank Anderson and his fire fighters.

"It's kind of a group effort that made it turn out good."

Burge has served in Sweet Springs as a police officer for nearly two-and-a-half years, beginning shortly after his April 2006 graduation from the police academy, where he was at the very top of his class, reported Police Chief Richard Downing.

In part, Burge was inspired to become a police officer by his older brother, Jon Burge, who currently serves in the Marshall Police Department.

Downing said Burge should receive his commendation during the next meeting by the Sweet Springs Board of Aldermen Monday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m.

Contact Geoff Rands at marshallreporter@socket.net