HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN
Brattleboro Reformer

GRAFTON - Volunteer firefighter Richard Thompson knew when the tone came in Friday night that this was not going to be an ordinary fire.

Thompson was home, just after 5 p.m., when the call came in that Beatrice Fisher's 150-year-old farm house was ablaze.

Fisher's home is less than a mile from where Thompson lives, so instead of going to the Grafton Fire Station, he drove directly to the Fisher property.

When he got there, flames and smoke were rising out of the rear of the historic building. A granddaughter-in-law of Fisher's was shouting to the woman, who is in her 80s, and who was trapped in the burning building.

"Gram is in the building," the relative said. "I can hear her."

Thompson has been a firefighter for about a year and he knew all of the basic requirements of never entering a burning building alone and always trying to make sure you had the proper equipment.

Thompson might have thought about that for an instant.

But with the fire growing by the second, and Fisher's faltering voice coming through a shattered window, Thompson broke every rule he knew.

He kicked in the front door, got down on his knees and began searching for Fisher, alone. Fisher's voice, a barely audible whimper at that point, could be heard from a room on the first floor.

The heat was intense, and smoke filled the room where Thompson went to look for Fisher.

Even though he disregarded the training lessons on equipment and teamwork, he did remember about doing a right-hand sweep and about staying low. He crawled close to the wall, swinging his arm out to try to feel for Fisher.

At first, he failed to find anything.

He took a deep breath, and did another sweep, when, without gloves on his hand, he felt a soft brush of human skin. He might have missed that feeling with gloves on.

"Bea. Yell at me so I can find you," Thompson shouted.

And from outside, Fisher's granddaughter-in-law was trying to get her to make noise. Thompson could hear the windows popping from the intense heat and the dry timbers of the century-and-a-half old building cracking.

And, somewhere else, among the noise and havoc, he heard the soft whisper of Fisher's voice.

Knowing that this was probably about as long as he should be alone in the burning building, he reached out and grabbed the woman.

At first her body did not come easily. She must have been holding on, or hooked. Thompson pulled, freeing her and he carried her out to safety.

By the time Thompson staggered out with Fisher in his arms, other firefighters and ambulances were just arriving.

He dragged her across the lawn. A rescue team gave her oxygen and she quickly regained consciousness.

This weekend, she was being treated in a hospital for smoke inhalation, but is now expected to recover. The Fisher house, one of the oldest homes in Grafton, was a total loss.

Firefighters occasionally go directly to the site of the fire if it is closer to the home. But they are always under strict rules to wait for help and the proper equipment.

Grafton Fire Chief Eric Stevens on Sunday refused to criticize his fireman's decision to go into the building to save Fisher.

"I would not recommend it, but I am not going to second-guess him," the chief said. "When you come upon a scene like that, you have to weigh the risk. You have to weigh your life against the life of someone else."

And Chief Stevens said that he did have one thing to say about Thompson's reaction.
"I would call him a hero," said Stevens.

Stevens said the Grafton department would be investigating the cause of the fire, though he said it was not suspicious.

In an interview Sunday, Thompson tried to downplay all the praise which he has received throughout the weekend.

He admits to probably "breaking every rule in the book," but said if he came upon the same scene again where a Grafton neighbor's life was threatened, he would do it all over again.