Retired PGFD chief officer rescues neighbor from Calvert County, MD house fire
A retired Prince George’s County Assistant Fire Chief is credited with entering a burning home in Calvert County alone Monday to rescue a critically injured neighbor.
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Tommy Breen of Owings said he was drawn to the home of neighbor 68-year old Carol Hausmann by a tall column of black smoke. Breen was returning home from a gym after his morning workout.
Breen, who retired in 1998, kicked down the front door at 2650 Lake Shore Dr. and crawled through blinding, toxic smoke on his hands and knees while holding his breath. After retreating to the door for a breath of fresh air, he went in again and found Hausmann unresponsive at the foot of a stairway.
“I went back in and grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her to the door,” Breen said.
At that moment Breen was met inside the door by arriving Dunkirk Volunteer Firefighter Matt Shrawder who helped him get Hausmann out of the burning house.
Another neighbor, off-duty Prince George’s County paramedic Lt. C.J. Smart ran to the house in time to begin working to revive Hausmann. Smart was home after his wife gave birth to the couple’s second son.
Hausmann remained hospitalized Tuesday in very critical condition with burns over much of her body, according to Carl Golie, a family friend.
“I think what he did is very heroic,” said Dunkirk Volunteer Firefighter Ben White who witnessed Breen and Shrawder coming out of the burning house.
“There was high heat conditions, heavy smoke conditions,” White said, as he marveled at a badly charred helmet he wore into the same house Breen entered without any protection at all.
“I knew that if I didn’t get her she might not survive,” Breen said. “I had to give her a chance.”
