When officers from the Clarksville Police Department came to work this frigid morning, little did they realize they would be called into action to save a man’s life.
On Jan. 6 around 6:15 a.m., 911 received a call about a residential fire at 834 Stafford Street. The caller was not sure whether anyone was in the residence or not, but did know someone lived there. Officers were already on the way to the call due to the rapid notification afforded by the recently installed Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system in CPD’s police cars.
Officer Darren Koski arrived first on scene in less than a minute and a half. Based on the presence of vehicles outside of the residence and witness information officers believed someone was inside. Multiple officers arrived on scene and pounded on doors and windows to try and wake anyone inside. There was no response from inside of the house but a smoke alarm could be heard wailing from inside. Officers made a decision to kick in the front door. In the meantime other officers continued to try to establish contact with anyone who might be inside.
Officer Darren Koski, Officer Craig Gipson, and Sgt. Dave Bramel quickly made a decision to enter the burning house without concern their own well being. Officer Koski was first in the house, with Officer Gipson behind him, and Sgt. Bramel was at the opening of the doorway. They all were low to the ground and remained in contact with each other by holding onto each other’s ankles, crawling inside of the burning house. By now there was almost zero visibility due to the heavy smoke inside. The officers kept calling so anyone inside could hear them.
