Cedar City officer bursts into burning home to rescue elderly veteran

CEDAR CITY, Utah (ABC4/KDXU) - An elderly Cedar City veteran is alive and recovering in the hospital after a fire broke out in his home on Monday. He was rescued by a Cedar City police officer who says he just so happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Neighbors on the street tell KDXU News Director, Jordan Verdadeiro, that many of them were asleep at the time of the incident and if it weren’t for the brave fire and police officials, they don’t think the man would have survived.

Cedar City officials responded to a house fire that happened around 7:40 a.m. at 320 W 900 N on Monday.

When officers arrived, they realized a man in his 80s was trapped inside.

"When I got up there I could see the basement, through the window well, it was completely engulfed, the glass had melted,” says Officer Patrick McCoy.

Officer Patrick McCoy made his way into the man’s home but he couldn’t see or breathe.

“So I ran back to my truck and I got a sweatshirt that my little girl had actually left in there and tied it around my face,” he says.

Cedar City Fire officials deployed a fire suppression device to clear some of the smoke where Officer McCoy entered the home with other officers.

“Between the two of them, it lifted the smoke about 8 inches or so and at that point, I could look underneath and see his head at the very top of the staircase,” he says.

McCoy pulled the man out with the help of other police officers and was sent to the hospital along with the man, for smoke inhalation.

“If it was my family member or my family, what would I want done from either fire, medics, cops, so that was my thought, if that was my dad or my grandpa sitting there I would want them to do anything they can to get him out,” he says.

Cedar City Fire officials say the cause of the fire is undetermined and the investigation is ongoing.

For Jordan Verdadeiro's full broadcast piece with video of the rescue click here.