Editor’s note: The incorrect story was previously posted/published to accompany these photos. We apologize for the error.
BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — Heroic actions of local responders will be featured during an upcoming season of Hearts of Heroes.
Representatives from Belfor Property Restoration, which sponsors the ABC Network program, appeared before the county commission last week to recognize the lifesaving actions of officers and firefighters responding to an apartment fire last February.
Belfor’s David Knowles said they’ve filmed a production of that rescue that will air sometime this year.
Last February, Bradford Sheriff’s Office Deputy Robert Malley was on patrol when he arrived on the scene of an Epperson Street fire in Starke. Dispatch indicated elderly people were inside the burning residential structure.
The two-story building was engulfed, with flames shooting from the roof. The door to the building was locked. Malley, a former firefighter, forced entry by kicking the door open, and he and Starke Police Officer Jay Raulerson entered to assist the residents. An elderly woman was quickly located and escorted to safety.
Malley reentered and went upstairs, shouting “Police!” to anyone who could hear his voice. The lights went out, but Malley could hear a voice faintly yelling for help. The woman inside the apartment could not get out and could not force the door open. Using the sound of his voice, the deputy guided the woman to the door, and she was able to unbolt it.
The officers saved her life by getting her out of the building, Knowles said.
“Without their heroic actions, that person most likely would have been a fatality,” he said.
As a retired fire chief and firefighter-paramedic for more than 40 years, Knowles said he was honored to present to the commission and its agencies an American flag and a plaque of photographs from their television production.
Bradford Fire Rescue Chief Ben Carter, Col. Brad Smith and commissioners joined the representatives from Belfor for a photo.
Carter said the recognition really belongs to the officers involved, and they look
