'They Have Exemplified What Bravery Truly Is'

The smell of smoke shook Glenna King from a slumber at 3:18 a.m. on July 26. While she had no idea where the fire was, she did know that her 6-year-old son, Maxwell, was asleep in his bedroom down the hall. But the fire's thick smoke and intense heat was like an impenetrable wall separating them. King called 911.

"I was choking on the gases and told them to hurry up because I couldn't breath," she recalled about lying on her bedroom floor for before blacking out.

When the Long Beach Fire Department arrived at the burning East Olive Street home, where King occupied a second-floor apartment, firefighter Anthony Fallon entered the first room at the top of the stairs, found Maxwell sleeping and carried him downstairs. Backing Fallon up was Capt. Hadrick Ray and 2nd Assit. Chief Antonio Cuevas, who found an unconscious King and lifted her up to safety outside.

"Afterward, I'm not going to lie, I cried a little bit to myself, over how nervous I was," Ray admitted after a ceremony that honored him, Fallon and Cuevas for their life-saving heroics, prior to a Nassau County Legislature meeting on Monday.  

"To me, this just underscores exactly what our firefighters do," said Legislator Denise Ford (R-Long Beach). "That regardless of any personal safety, that it is utmost in their minds, and just something that kicks in with them, that it is more important to make sure that someone else is safe. They have exemplified what bravery truly is."

For Ray, even after all his training to prepare him for such life-threatening circumstances, the actual experience was overwhelming. "I didn't realize how much more intense a situation it is when you're in it," he said. "Those emotions stayed with me for two weeks after."

A firefighter for 15 years, Cuevas noted that firefighters routinely confront dangerous situations. But that night at King's apartment was clearly different. "It was more surreal because we had victims in this one," he said.

Fallon recalled being in a nearly identical situation a decade before, when he first signed on as a LBFD volunteer. He arrived at a home where a woman was trapped in her second-floor apartment. She perished.

"This case couldn't have had a better outcome," said Fallon of saving King and her son.

On Monday, King saw her son off to school before heading to the County Legislature ceremony to join in honoring the trio that saved their lives.

When Fallon had previously helped aid or rescue people in distress, always leaving them in hospitable hands, he rarely, if ever, had seen them again. But King and Maxwell continue to stop by the LBFD firehouse to visit him. "This was a definitely a unique situation," he said.

Following the ceremony, Fallon, Ray and Cuevas all said that they had never quite been honored like that before, each receiving county certificates of recognition. Cuevas seemed to sum up their collective sentiments, saying that the recognition wasn't something they were looking for. "We were simply doing our jobs," he said. "But it's just nice to be recognized for something you did for someone else."

UPDATE Sept. 21: Anthony Fallon corrected Long Beach Patch, saying that he was the firefighter who first crawled through Glenna King's apartment, discovered her lying unconscious and helped carry her to safety.