COMANCHE, Texas — Comanche Police Department Officer Heath Oakley was patrolling the city on Memorial Day weekend where he ended up in a life-changing situation.
Oakley has been working as a volunteer fire department at Cisco VFD for four years and has been an officer with CPD for a little more than a year. But he said this situation was probably the most painful experience he’d ever had in his life.
That weekend, Oakley was watching out for impaired drivers, when he was suddenly flagged down by a man who said people needed help down the road.
“He came up with the red light. He got out of his vehicle and started flailing with his arms around. Obviously that caught my attention. I turned around, spoke with him, and he had told me about a fire just right down the road. So of course, I got in my vehicle and headed down that way.” Oakley said.
Moments later, Oakley saw a fire burning two to three RVs in that area.
“When I first stepped out of the car, my first instinct, I guess, from prior experiences as a fireman was just to size up the situation to see what I had. I walked up to the scene, saw that again. Those two properties were fully involved. I knew that there was no way, myself or anyone, if they were occupying the space, would be alive,” he said.
On his own, he was able to get a resident and three dogs out of an RV with no injuries to him or the resident. The fire was deemed an electrical fire and the RVs at the location may not have been up to code, according to Oakley.
He said if he wasn’t flagged down in time, this probably would've been a different outcome.
“If that man may not have wiped me down, I probably would not have even gone in that direction. If he's watching this, kudos to him. He did a great job. We could have been potentially looking at a whole other loss of property as well as the three dogs that were inside. So they did an amazing job,” Oakley shared.
Fires can happen in a matter of seconds, but there are things people can remember to help keep them from happening.
“If you're not using it, unplug it. You know, obviously if you're going to have a command strip, don't overload it. Don't put a bunch of stuff on there. You know, try to keep it as minimal as possible as well as it could be, even as small as don't smoke in the house, you know, make sure you turn off your stove. You know, don't leave grease lying around. Just think about yourself, your family and your community,” Oakley said.
Oakley has been recommended for both a life-saving award and a distinguished meritorious service award, serving as an example of how first responders risk their lives for others daily.