Freeport firefighter honored for off-duty bravery

A Freeport volunteer firefighter was honored last week for his bravery, quick thinking and heroic efforts in his response to a house fire while off duty on the morning of March 26. The Freeport Village Board of Trustees and Mayor Robert Kennedy honored Lt. Gatha Ballard on May 22 at a Village Hall meeting for his heroism in saving the lives of four Freeport residents.

“I am honored to receive this, and it’s a privilege for the Freeport Fire Department that this award is coming here. You don’t expect to do things like this every day, so getting this award was an amazing feeling,” Ballard said.

While driving to the Freeport Fire Department for a training at 9:30 a.m. on March 26, Ballard spotted smoke billowing from a Union Street home. Ballard said there was no “second guessing” his actions when he first saw the smoke coming from the house.

“I stopped my car, just ran in and did everything I had to do,” he said.

In civilian clothes, he quickly got out of his car and broke down the front door of the house, where he found a confused man and escorted him outside.

“I went back inside upstairs and found a mother and a child and brought them outside. I then went into the basement and saw another man there and brought him outside,” Ballard said.

After making sure that all of the residents were outside of the home and away from the fire, Ballard then drove about two blocks to the fire station on Broadway to notify fellow firefighters about the active fire, Ray Maguire, the Freeport Fire Department’s executive director, said.

“Within seconds, Ballard went into uniform to work as a firefighter to extinguish the fire,” Maguire said.

Ballard said a significant amount of the side of the house was damaged, and two of the residents were taken to a local hospital, one for smoke inhalation and one for minor burns. The cause of the fire was traced to an air freshener in the home’s kitchen.

“[This recognition] is a testimony to his dedication, and also says a lot about our department, because he reacted, and [he] saw something and reacted to it immediately, Maguire said.

Ballard credits Hose Company No. 5 of Linden Avenue, Freeport, for its rigorous training, which he said prepared him for the events that took place on the morning of March 26.

Hose Company No. 5 “motivates us to train three to four times a week by doing search and rescues and line operations. We’re trained to save people’s lives, put the fire out and save people’s homes. That dedication to training is what brought me here today,” Ballard said.