Herd honored with Life Saver Award
Parker Herd, a lineman for Ozark Electric Cooperative, was honored by the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives for his role in saving the lives of a family whose home caught fire. AMEC’s Life Saver Award was presented to Herd during the AMEC annual meeting Oct. 4.
On Sunday, July 2, Parker and his wife, Lauren, arrived home from a camping trip around 5 p.m.. While unpacking, they noticed smoke coming from their neighbor’s garage. They rushed over to their neighbor’s home and found flames quickly spreading inside. They knocked on the front door and heard people inside.
Parker pushed the door open. The house was full of smoke. They saw someone walking out the back door. Quickly they ran around the house where Lauren helped an elderly woman off the porch and carried her to the front of the house.
Meanwhile Parker and another member of the household were searching for other family members inside. They called out for others in the house, and a 12-year-old girl hung her head out the second-story window. Parker instructed the girl to find a safe way around the fire that was expanding. He proceeded to help the girl down from the second story window. He and his wife then safely led all the household members to the road to wait for the fire trucks and ambulance to arrive.
Afterwards, the young girl told them she was sleeping when she woke and couldn’t breathe due to the smoke. She could hear them searching for her, and from their calls knew she was in danger and needed to call out for help.
“It is an honor to be able to share this story and get Parker the attention he deserves,” said Caleb Jones, CEO of the association. “It takes courage to step forward and take charge when faced with these life-threatening situations, but that is exactly what he did, without hesitation.”
Because of the nature of the work they do, electric cooperative employees receive extensive life-saving training. They hope they never need these skills but are prepared to put their training to work whether it is helping an injured employee or a member of the public. The Life Saver Award was created to recognize those employees who take action to save a life.
