Community Corner
Volunteer Firefighter Honored for Heroics
Firefighter was off-duty when he helped pull a passenger from a car fire.
James T. Cruzan was on his way to work as a Montgomery County school bus driver on the morning of Feb. 18 when, as he came off the exit from Interstate 370, he saw smoke.
He found a white Nissan Altima on fire in the woods near Crabbs Branch Way with a passenger still inside. The car had collided with a pickup truck causing it to go off the road, said Cruzan, volunteer with the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department.
Two civilians, including a tractor trailer driver, tried to help Cruzan pull the driver out of the car, but the doors were jammed. Using a fire extinguisher from the tractor trailer, Cruzan pushed back flames that had spread from the Nissan’s engine to the passenger’s feet. Although the extinguisher could not put out all the fire, it bought Cruzan and the other two men enough time to pull the passenger out through the driver’s window.
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The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department honored Cruzan with a Certificate of Recognition for his deeds on Wednesday.
The certificate was presented by Cruzan’s peers at the RVFD's monthly membership meeting at the Montgomery County Executive Office Building.
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“It’s more special when your peers recognize you,” said Eric Bernard, president of the RVFD. Bernard said the department will also recommend Cruzan for various heroism awards.
Cruzan, 39, who volunteers for the department on Friday and Saturday evenings, said he was off duty when he rescued the passenger.
“I’m not a hero,” he said. “I’m just someone who happened to be at the right place at the right time, right? And I had other people there. I just followed my training.”
After the rescue, Cruzan said the tractor trailer driver told him that he had gotten lost before he saw the fire.
“He said that God must have put him there, Cruzan said.
Cruzan also was one of the 45 volunteers who responded to the brush fires that flared up on Feb. 19 in Darnestown and Germantown.
“James is a good guy,” said RFVD chief Scott Emmons. “He’s a hard working family man, works very hard for his family. I wish I had 40 more like James Cruzan.”
“It’s astounding,” Bernard said. “I’ve got 260 people who should be recognized for their heroics! But for someone to go above and beyond highlights everyone’s story.”
