2007 Officer of the Year
Officer Pat Pace(left) and Steve McCraw,
Director of Texas Homeland Security (right)
Last April, about 7 am, Pat Pace was dispatched to a residential fire several miles outside the city near the Round Mountain intersection. Upon arriving he observed a smoking and burning double-wide mobile home. He banged on exterior windows and walls trying to get the attention of anyone inside. After no response, he entered a sliding glass door. Smoke and fire had almost engulfed the home, but he circled the smoldering rooms and called out several times – again, no response. Needing to breathe, he left through the front door, caught his breath, entered a second time, and called out again – without response.
He began a final retreat when he heard a muffled voice coming from inside. He stepped back outside, caught his breath, and re-entered a third time – this time crawling on the heated floor. Out of breath, he found a semi-conscious woman on the floor leaning against a piece of furniture, grabbed her and began to pull her towards the door. The home was becoming an inferno. Fortunately, other emergency units arrived, and assisted helping Officer Pace get the woman to safety. The woman was flown to Brackenridge Hospital by Starflight and Officer Pace was transported to Round Rock Medical Center where he was treated for smoke inhalation. Both the woman and Officer Pace have recovered.
If not for Officer Pace’s heroic actions in re-entering the home a third time, the woman would have died within minutes.
What makes this incident more significant is Pat Pace’s miraculous survival when he was an 18-month-old tot. He and several other children were playing at Pat’s old wood-frame home. One of the children played with the gas valve on one of the heaters and a few minutes later, the children – except for Pat – left the room. The room filled with gas, which ignited because of a water heater’s pilot light – and the room exploded with Pat inside. Though barely alive and burned all over, his mother rushed him to the hospital, where Pat sustained second and third degree burns over most of his body. His lungs were scorched, and survival odds were slim. After months of recovery, therapy and skin grafts, he slowly recovered and has gone on to lead a normal life. The scarring on his lungs makes him extremely sensitive to smoky environments – which makes his actions last April even more admirable.
