County Employees Honored For Their Role in Fire Rescue

August "Gus" Weisenborn and Cameron Stone were driving their usual Parkville route for the county Department Of Public works last month when one of them spotted something unusual.

"I looked in the rearview mirror, saw the smoke and turned around real quick," said Stone.

Stone and Weisenborn, who have both worked for the department’s highways bureau for about four years, quickly turned around and went back to the burning home in the 9200 block of Avondale Road.

The pair were honored today by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz for their quick response and for saving an elderly man from the burning home.

When they arrived at the home, a woman who lived there was outside; she told the men that there was an elderly man still inside the home on the second floor.

"I asked her how to get to him," said Weisenborn. "She told me to head around the side of the house and up the stairs, so that's what I did." 

Stone stayed outside with the woman while Weisenborn entered the home to save the elderly man. 

When he entered the house there was no visible fire but a great deal of smoke, according to Weisenborn, who also lives in Parkville.

"I started walking up the stairs, and from the second step I called up to see if anyone was there.  A man called back down that there was," Weisenborn said.

Not recognizing the severity of the situation, the man was attempting to gather up some of his belongings. 

"I told him, 'The house is on fire, you have to get out'," Weisenborn said.

Weisenborn then escorted the man out of the house. At that point, police and fire officials arrived to battle the blaze.

"It's my privilege to honor these two county employees," said Kamenetz. The county executive praised the men for going beyond the call of duty to save a man's life and presented each man with a pin and a certificate of executive commendation.

In a statement to the media, Kamenetz said, "I applaud Mr. Weisenborn and Stone for their extraordinary public service; their alertness and quick actions saved this gentleman from potentially serious injury."

Also on hand to honor the men were Ed Adams of the Department of Public Works, Baltimore County Fire Chief John Hohman, Tim Burgess of the Department of Highways and Fifth District Councilman David Marks.

Marks presented each man with a County Council resolution recognizing their heroic acts.

"These heroes represent the best of Baltimore County," Marks said in a statement to the media. "Their courage was extraordinary, and they are a credit to county government and the entire Baltimore County community."

Weisenborn's daughter Danielle, 19, is proud of her father's actions, but hopes he won't make a habit out of running into burning buildings.

"I think it's amazing—I'm glad he got recognized here today, and I'm glad he didn't get hurt," she said.

When they stopped to help on that windy February morning, neither man expected anything like this would come of it—they were just doing what they felt was their duty to help out another person in need.

"This is all overwhelming, really," said Stone.

The Baltimore County Fire Department also plans to honor the two men at its annual promotional and commendations ceremony on March 22.