By Dawnthea Price
The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.
HUGHESVILLE, Md. — David Robey is always putting out fires, even during his time off. And in Robey’s case, the fires are real.
The Colonial Beach Volunteer Fire Department chief was on Maryland’s State Route 6 on Thursday, headed to the Harley-Davidson dealership in Hughesville, Md., near La Plata.
A burning house caught his eye along the road.
“I was just going over to Hughesville, and I passed a house and noticed it was on fire,” said the 21-year firefighting veteran. “So I turned around and I went back.”
The chief reported the fire, then did what he could as he waited — without his usual gear, crew or equipment. He couldn’t find a hose or other way to extinguish the flames on the home’s porch, but he did see multiple cars in the driveway.
He banged on walls, windows and doors that weren’t ablaze, and was able to wake two of the home’s three residents. They promptly escaped. Robey assisted a third person to safety through a back window.
By the time all three residents were out of harm’s way, the blaze had spread across the entire front of the house.
Deputy Chief Doug Hutchins of the La Plata Volunteer Fire Department said it was pure luck that Robey was passing by when he did. Between the fire’s location, speed and the fact that the residents were sleeping, he said the local department could have easily faced a much different scenario.
“This is a huge deal, it really is,” he said. “If it wasn’t for him, we would have a sad day on our hands.”
The fire’s cause remains under investigation. Hutchins also said the department would seek to honor Robey at its annual banquet in the summer.
However, Robey’s day was far from over. After providing information to representatives from the Office of the State Fire Marshal, he still had to finish his errands. Steve Keene, general manager at All American Harley-Davidson in Hughesville, said Robey arrived smelling like smoke — and apologized profusely for being late.
“The hair on the back of my head stood up, the way he was describing it,” Keene said. “I told him, ‘You don’t realize, but you’re a hero.’ He said, ‘No no, I just pulled some people out of a house.’ There’s no way I could function in that scenario.”
But Keene said Robey acted on instinct.
“And because he stopped, he saved three lives.”
Robey chalked it up to being in the right place at the right time, with a little luck thrown in.
“I’m not a hero,” he said. “I didn’t do anything that any other firefighter wouldn’t have done if they had passed it.”
Perhaps that was the exact reasoning that led Robey’s son, a Fredericksburg-area firefighter, to contact him not long after the La Plata fire call went out.
“My son heard the call and told me, ‘There’s a working fire in La Plata, you might pass it,’” Robey said with a laugh. “I had to tell him that I was the one who reported it.”
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(c)2015 The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.)
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