Three Brooklet men were airlifted to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta Sunday morning after being pulled from a fire that destroyed their home on Precious Circle.
Bulloch County Fire Chief Christopher Ivey said all three victims suffered significant burns and remain hospitalized in critical condition. The names of the victims have not been released and no update on their condition was available as of Monday evening.
About 9:40 Sunday morning, Brooklet Advanced Patrol Officer Pierre Jorden was doing radar checks on the east side of the city on Highway 80 East. He said he went to assist a Georgia State trooper who had radioed a traffic stop on 80 when he saw smoke coming from the neighborhood area behind the Dollar General store.
“I noticed the smoke was much thicker than you would normally see from a trash or barrel fire,” he said. “When I arrived on the scene, the house was on fire and smoke was everywhere. I called in the structure fire at 9:41 a.m. I wasn’t sure there was anyone in the house, but I grabbed my fire extinguisher and went in the front door.”
Jorden said he immediately saw a man lying on the floor with burns.
“I helped him up and he was able to get himself outside,” Jorden said. “I asked him if there was anyone else inside and he said ‘Jessie.’ I was able to locate the man and pulled him outside.”
By then, Jorden said, two local men came on the scene and began to help him. He was told there was another man inside, so Jorden and one of the men went back inside, but the fire became too intense.
“We opened one of the bedroom doors and flames just burst out,” Jorden said. “We went back outside and broke a window where we thought the man might be. A few seconds later, he jumped out of the window.”
Dwashawn Scott was one of the neighbors who came to the scene after he heard a scream.
“I was inside the house and the first scream I heard, I thought it was just neighborhood kids playing,” said Scott, who received a medical retirement from the Army in 2018. “When I heard a second scream, I looked outside and saw the house in flames. I grabbed my sledgehammer and ran to the house.”
Scott said when he got there he saw two victims that had been pulled out of the house, but he heard there was another person inside, who he thought might be a child of one of the men who lived there.
“The house was too hot to get near,” he said. “Another man and I saw a hose and we started spraying water on the area of the house we thought the man was in. Then we saw him outside the house on the ground, and I helped carry him to what I thought was safely away from the fire.”
Possible cause of the fire
Ivey said the first fire units arrived on the scene at 9:44 and found the house engulfed in flames.
“Once on the scene, EMS ascertained that the victims’ burns were severe enough to immediately call for life flight,” Ivey said. “There were two helicopters from Air Evac and one from LifeStar. One came from Statesboro, one from Savannah and one from Vidalia.”
Ivey said an inspector with the Georgia State Fire Investigations Unit is expected to be on the scene Tuesday and he may have a preliminary cause of the fire as early as Tuesday afternoon.
“If they are able to speak with the victims and get inside the structure, I may have something that quickly,” Ivey said.
Jorden said he spoke with the men, who he said were ages 54, 62 and 40, about the cause of the fire.
“They told me they were trying to light a fire in their fireplace and were using some fuel for a kerosene heater,” he said. “They said they thought a jug they were using had kerosene, but the heater just exploded so they think it was gasoline and not kerosene.”
APO Jorden’s background
A Statesboro native, Jorden, 31, has been in law enforcement for three years, the last two with the Brooklet Police Department.
“My mother and a couple of others were correctional officers, a lieutenant,” Jorden said. “They wore uniforms like Georgia State troopers. We used to have law enforcement officers come to school to speak with us. I always wanted to be a law enforcement officer.”
Brooklet Police Chief Gary Roberts described Jorden as a humble man and an officer who he is not surprised did his duty and more to help rescue the men from the burning house.
“I’ve received calls all this morning from EMS and fire officials complimenting APO Jorden on his quick actions that probably are why these men are alive today,” Roberts said. “He is an excellent officer, and I’m proud to have him in our department.”
When he pulled up on the scene, Jorden said he knew “I had to do something immediately. I’ve been to structure fires before, but never one with people inside. It’s not something you exactly train for, but I knew I had to help.”
While Scott said he didn’t know the men well, he described the small neighborhood as “close-knit and friendly. Everybody smiles and waves.”
Jorden said the neighbors who rushed to the house are what being a “Good Samaritan is all about. I’m thankful they were there and willing to help because they didn’t have to. It’s my job, and I’m thankful I was in the right place at the right time to help those men.”