A medical emergency in an Alexandria yard ended with a volunteer firefighter finishing the mowing.
Members of the Alexandria Volunteer Fire Department were working a fundraiser last weekend when they got an urgent call from a fellow firefighter. The off-duty member was driving with a friend and saw a resident slumped over a lawnmower.
The volunteer crew went to the home and found the woman suffering from a heat-related illness. Alexandria Fire Chief Jonathon Patterson said the team moved the patient to the porch and gave initial care before Piedmont Rescue took her to a hospital.
As the ambulance left and the crew got ready to pack up their gear, the lawnmower was still sitting in the middle of the partially cut yard.
Lt. Colton Brown first told Patterson he was going to move the mower out of the way. Then he decided to finish the job because heavy rain was forecast for the coming week, and the next day was likely the family’s last chance to get it done.
“I thought, I’m just going to go ahead and finish this yard, and make sure when she comes back home, the family doesn’t have to worry about it, and she doesn’t have to worry about it either,” Brown said.
Brown took about 30 minutes to finish the yard work.
Patterson, who has worked with Brown for more than a decade, said the move fit the lieutenant’s character.
“Colton, he’s a really good guy,” Patterson said. “He’s got a heart of gold. That’s for sure. He is willing to help anybody, willing to do anything. I’ve never known him not to help anybody.”
Brown joined the department in 2011. He shifted the praise to the rest of the crew and called the emergency response a “huge team effort.”
He said the main goal in his field is always to protect life and property, but sometimes the job calls for a personal touch.
“We’ll try to do what we can to help anybody that’s having a rough day,” Brown said.
Patterson said that spirit of service sits at the center of the volunteer department, which depends on people giving up time with their own families to answer calls for neighbors in distress.
“You have to have a good heart, and you have to want to do it,” Patterson said.
Brown said he believes the woman is doing well, though the department does not receive official updates on a patient’s condition after ambulance personnel take over.
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