Magazine Calls Brewer Firefighter a Hero

Tony Cobb could see the glow from the trailer fire as he swerved into the Lake View Trailer Park around 11:30 p.m. Feb. 14, 2002. The first rescuer on the scene of the fatal fire, Cobb pulled up next to the trailer and was told by a man in the yard that two people were still inside. Cobb is a Brewer firefighter but was working a second job that night as a part-time deputy sheriff for Penobscot County.

He got on the radio. "I told Penobscot dispatch that I had a report of two people trapped inside and I was going in," said Cobb.

Coughing and gagging, with no air tank, Cobb rescued a man from the inferno and was headed back in to get a female victim when flames blew out the front door.

The fire eventually claimed the lives of trailer occupants William Wescott, 51, and Thelma Carter, 34. Cobb was treated for smoke inhalation. Though the blaze had a deadly finale, Cobb's rescue efforts have been hailed by local and national groups, the latest being Firehouse magazine.

The national publication, in its April 2003 issue, named Cobb as one of 100 firefighters nationwide to receive its Heroism and Community Service Award.

The award was announced locally at a Brewer City Council meeting on July 14. Brewer Fire Chief Rick Bronson presented Cobb with a plaque and a medal. He also will get $100 from the magazine.

At the meeting, he was given a standing ovation.

Bronson later said Cobb "used his training, skill, and courage to a maximum," in the incident. "That's what allowed him to do what he did which most people could not do," Bronson said.

A man who does not seek special attention for his accomplishments - he has received numerous awards resulting from that night - Cobb, 37, characteristically shrugged off his efforts.

"I just do my job and love doing it," He said. "I guess other people think it's a big deal. To me, it was nothing extraordinary."

The short sentences next to his picture in the magazine give a glimpse of Cobb's heroism. "While off duty and working a second job as a sheriff's deputy, [Cobb] rescued an obese unconscious male from a well-involved mobile home fire and made attempts to rescue a second victim before suffering smoke inhalation and being driven out by a heavy fire condition," the magazine states.

Cobb recalled reaching the trailer only to find smoke and flames blowing out the rear windows.

"I looked into the doorway and hollered several times. I got no response. I took out my flashlight and got down and got on the floor," Cobb recalled.

Once inside the door, Cobb touched a hand. "I saw his face. His eyes were open, but he didn't respond."

Cobb tried "three or four times" to get the large man out, he said.

"I had to keep going out to get fresh air."

After he got the man in the doorway, he called for the neighbor's help. They got the unconscious man near a police car, and Cobb turned to go back in after the second occupant.

He went back into the smoking, burning trailer three times.

Bent over and gasping for air, he was about to turn and go back in a fourth time when the neighbor yelled, "Look out!''

In a split second, fire raged through the trailer's midsection and blew out the front door. It was fortuitous timing for Cobb.

"I would have gone back in a fourth time and wouldn't be here," Cobb said.

His instincts for fire and rescue have earned Cobb a full-time position as a firefighter-EMT. He has been working full time with the Brewer Fire Department for four years. He had worked part time from 1987 to 1999.

A graduate of Brewer High School, Cobb lives in Eddington with his wife, Theresa Cobb, and sons Andrew, 8, and Alex, 2, who likes to visit his dad at work and slide down the fire pole.

Cobb began seriously pursuing a firefighter's career at age 16 as a junior firefighter, first in Eddington, then in Holden when his family moved.

"It's what I've always wanted to do," Cobb said.

A copyright story from the Bangor Daily News by Nancy Garland, Of the NEWS Staff: Monday, July 21, 2003.