When police arrived at a wooden apartment house in Culpeper, Virginia, on the evening of Oct. 3, thick smoke was pouring from the windows.
People who lived in the building’s separate units had already escaped and were waiting outside, the Culpeper Police Department said.
But they told officers that one resident was still unaccounted for—and could be trapped inside.
Culpeper Police Department officers enter a burning home to save a man from the fire. (Culpeper Police Department)
Officer Ashley Sain immediately moved toward the burning home. Without waiting for protective equipment, she entered and began checking rooms and doors for anyone who might remain inside.
Officer Neal Coffey followed moments later.
Body-camera video captures an officer sprinting up the staircase, passing red “No Smoking” notices mounted along the walls.
On the second floor, the officers came across a bedroom door secured from within. Smoke was seeping through the gaps at the top and bottom.
Over the piercing sound of the fire alarms, Sain called out, “Police department, if you’re in here!”
Police officers and firefighters responded to a house fire in Culpeper, Virginia, on Oct. 3, 2026. (Culpeper Police Department)
Coffey used a small pocket tool to open the lock, then slowly pushed the door inward while announcing, “Police department!”
No one responded.
A cloud of dense, black smoke rushed out of the bedroom, with flames visible beyond it.
Sain called out once more: “Police department! Anybody inside?”
By then, Sgt. David Cole and Officer Michael Beel had also reached the second floor.
The body-camera footage shows Coffey dropping to his hands and knees before lowering himself onto the wooden floor. Using a flashlight, he searched through the smoke.
As visibility worsened, Coffey shouted, “I can’t see!” His voice grew increasingly urgent while he pushed deeper into the room.
CONTINUE READING: As Judge Throws Out Trump Charges, Even CNN Admits Fani Willis Keeps Humiliating Herself – NewsFinale
Moving forward on his chest and reaching through the smoke, he suddenly located an unresponsive man lying on a bed.
“Hey, brother, come on!” Coffey pleaded as he grabbed the man’s arm and tried to pull him free.
“Come on! Come with me!”
He shouted again through the smoke to fellow officers.
“We’ve got to get him out! I have him! He’s breathing!”
Video shows him struggling to move the man.
“Hey! We need help!” an officer shouted.
Coffey pulled the limp man onto the floor. Beel crawled in to help.
Together, the four officers dragged the unconscious man into the hallway.
Then a firefighter in protective gear emerged through the smoke.
A team of firefighters carried the man out of the burning building, and extinguished the fire.
The rescued resident was transported to a hospital, then transferred to a regional burn center. His name and the cause of the fire have not been released because those details are part of an active investigation.
Three of the police officers also were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and other injuries. They were released that evening.
Officers who helped save a man from a burning house fire received valor awards from the Culpeper Police Department. (Culpeper Police Department)
All four who braved the smoke and flames were honored with valor awards on Oct. 14, Capt. Kevin Tooley of the Culpeper Police Department told News Media. He was a supervisor on the scene.
“They went above and beyond the normal call for a police department,” Tooley said of his team.
“We normally don’t go into burning buildings. I mean, that’s not our job. That’s typically the fire department’s job. But we don’t know how to say no, especially when there’s a life … that we know we have to save.”