By FireRescue1 Staff
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A former firefighter claims he quit after saving a woman’s life because of the way the fire chief treated him afterward.
ABC4 News reported that former firefighter Cameron Day was part of one crew out of several that battled the flames of a large house fire.
“We were there for about 90 minutes, and we’re told that we could take our [SCBA]off. Because of that, we went into a defensive posture, meaning nobody can go in or out of the building because it’s no longer safe for anyone to be in it,” Day said.
When the resident came home to find the fire, she rushed inside to save her cat. Day ran inside without his SCBA to rescue the woman, and said that if he had waited, she probably would have died.
“The standard’s two minutes to put all that gear on. Two minutes she didn’t have. Two minutes. When I found her, she was crouched over and 20 feet in. A few more seconds and she would have been passed out on the floor, then would have ultimately burned up and died,” Day said.
Day got the woman out safely and the two were transported to the hospital.
Day said he didn’t like how Interim Chief John Tippett handled the situation when he returned to work. City spokesperson Jack O’Toole said Chief Tippett congratulated Day for the lifesaving act and also warned him about entering a burning structure without proper equipment.
“He was very, in my opinion, very sarcastic to me, very disrespectful to me. He wasn’t happy with what I did and told me I was going to have to write him an essay,” Day said.
The city said Chief Tippett asked Day to write an essay to demonstrate his understanding of safety training practices.
“You risk a lot to save a lot. You save a life if you can. That’s ingrained in the fire service. So, I told him that, and he said we don’t risk what-so-ever at this fire department. ‘If you would have died in there, that would have been a black eye for the fire department,’” Day said.
Day did not agree, and resigned from the department.
“I believe that we should save the citizens whenever we have the possibility and if it’s there. Just the way he portrayed it to me, is if it’s not safe, don’t do it. Well there’s nothing safe about being a firefighter,” he said.