Sheriff’s Office deputies Rob Brown and Megan Jones were in the right place at the right time the night of Saturday, Feb. 10.
Brown, who has been with the Sheriff’s Office for five years, was showing Jones, who graduated from the Sheriff’s Office Academy Dec. 21, 2006, "problem areas" in Eastern Loudoun County. When Brown turned his cruiser down Potomac View Drive, he noticed thick, black smoke to his right. He followed the smoke to 47 Carolina Court in Sugarland Run. The two-story town house was on fire.
Jones said she jumped out of the car while Brown called for help. Jones ran toward a woman screaming from her balcony. There were a handful of neighbors on the ground below her.
RENE GRANADOS lives next door to 47 Carolina Court.
"I heard the woman screaming," he said. "So I went outside to help."
Granados was one of about 10 neighbors that came to the woman’s rescue before Brown and Jones arrived at the scene.
Granados said one of his neighbors brought a stepladder, put it under the balcony, and he and several other men helped two children down the ladder. Then, they brought the woman down from the balcony.
When the deputies arrived at the house, Granados said the woman directed their attention to the first floor. The woman's handicapped father was trapped in the living room.
Brown and several neighbors broke the front door down.
"The smoke was really thick," Jones said. "All I could see were his feet and the bottom of his walker, that's it."
Jones grabbed the man and she and Brown put him in their cruiser.
By that time, Sterling, Cascades, Ashburn, Moorefield, Arcola, Dulles Airport and Fairfax County fire departments arrived to the townhouse.
When asked what it feels like to be a hero, Brown described it with one word.
"Strange," he said.
THE FIRE MARSHALS OFFICE said the fire, which resulted in $500,000 damage, was accidental. Two adjacent townhouses received minor smoke damage from the fire.