Fire Rescue Real Hero award winners
EAST SYRACUSE -- Law enforcers will tell you it’s all in the line of duty, but a fire rescue in East Syracuse last May was anything but a typical day at the office for East Syracuse Police Officers Bob Wolfe and Dale Barhite. They were first on the scene, on McCool Avenue, and the first to hear that a 54 year old man was trapped upstairs in the burning house.
The officers were knocked back by black smoke and flames as they went up the steps, but they knew they had to go in and ‘do their jobs’.
They could not see the man, so used a flashlight –part of the standard equipment on the police utility belt—and put it in rapid flash/signal mode. The man crawled to them, and was quickly rescued from the flames.
The officers say they don’t think they were heroes: “It's either you go in or take a chance of this individual perishing in the flames. And to me that's not an option.”
For their efforts, Officers Bob Wolfe and Dale Barhite are this year’s Fire Rescue Real Heroes.
