Courage Under Fire
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Water Valley Fire Chief Mark McGavock (from left), Mason Simpson, Walter Horton, Scott Foster and Assistant Fire Chief Tyler Layth gather outside City Hall following the presentation of the department’s Civilian Life Saving Awards during the July 7 Board of Aldermen meeting. The three civilians were recognized for their heroic actions in the minutes following the June 14 Thornton Street explosion.
WATER VALLEY – Nearly a month after a residential explosion rocked Water Valley and claimed one life, the city paused Tuesday night, July 7, to honor four men whose actions helped save others during the terrifying moments that followed.
During the July 7 meeting of the Water Valley Board of Aldermen, the Water Valley Fire Department presented its Civilian Life Saving Award to Mason Simpson, Scott Foster and Walter Horton, while Capt. Stephen Spence received the department’s Meritorious Service Award.
Before presenting the awards, Fire Chief Mark McGavock told those gathered the honors are not given lightly.
“I can tell you in my 40 or so years, I never got it,” McGavock said. “But it just seems recently that there’s been some of the right people at the right place at the right time.”
The civilian award recognized Simpson, Foster and Horton for their extraordinary actions following the June 14 explosion on Thornton Street.
According to the citation, the three men entered the severely damaged residence despite the danger of fire, structural collapse and the possibility of a secondary explosion. They located trapped occupants and helped guide them to safety before conditions deteriorated further. McGavock said their calm judgment and selfless actions prevented additional loss of life.
As he read the citation, McGavock briefly paused, overcome with emotion.
“It is hard to read this,” he said before continuing.
The department also honored Capt. Stephen Spence with the Meritorious Service Award for his actions after firefighters arrived. With natural gas continuing to feed the blaze, Spence advanced behind the protection of a fog stream and shut off the gas supply, eliminating a major fuel source that had prevented firefighters from gaining control of the fire. The citation praised his courage, technical proficiency and calm judgment under hazardous conditions.
They Came From Different Directions
Before the first fire engine arrived, three civilians had already rushed toward the devastated home, each responding from a different direction as cries for help pierced the chaos.
They came from different directions, but all arrived at the same place within moments of the explosion. Simpson lived next door to the destroyed home. Foster was nearly a mile away. Horton heard the blast from across the street. McGavock said their actions helped save lives during the critical moments before firefighters could fully bring the emergency under control.
Foster, a recent graduate of the fire academy, was working on the loading dock at his family’s cabinet shop on Central Street when he heard what he described as an explosion louder than thunder. Almost immediately, he heard someone screaming for help.
At first, Foster believed the cries were coming from a nearby house. As he continued running, he realized the explosion had occurred much farther away than he first thought, but he never slowed down, eventually covering nearly a mile before reaching the scene.
When he arrived, he found a woman trapped beneath part of a collapsed ceiling.
Foster lifted part of the collapsed ceiling and held it long enough for the woman to crawl to safety. Only afterward did he realize he had responded without any protective equipment. Foster ran back to his vehicle, retrieved his turnout gear, returned to the scene and remained there assisting firefighters until around 12:30 that night.
Horton, who lives across the street from the residence, said the explosion shook his home while he was in the bathroom.
“It was kind of like a bomb,” Horton said.
When he stepped outside, he saw the partially collapsed house, heard cries that a baby might still be inside and watched neighbors already rushing toward the burning house. He immediately joined the rescue effort, helping move an injured man farther from the burning structure while firefighters and paramedics raced to the scene.
For Simpson, who lived next door to the residence and was the first to reach the scene, the recognition was appreciated but unnecessary. Fire officials credited him with helping rescue two people from the collapsed home before flames overtook the structure seconds later.
“I didn’t do it for any kind of recognition,” Simpson said. “I just wanted to help. It’s just the right thing to do.”
Asked what advice he would offer someone faced with a similar emergency, Simpson kept his answer simple.
“Stay calm,” he said. “Focus on the task at hand. If it means helping somebody, help them.”
Mayor Tommy Reynolds closed the presentation by recalling a familiar passage of Scripture.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” Reynolds said. “These men demonstrated that same willingness to put others before themselves.”
The June 14 explosion destroyed the Thornton Street residence, killed Martha Pritchard and injured three others. Fire officials have said the victims likely would not have survived had the rescuers acted any later. Within moments of the final rescue, flames engulfed what remained of the collapsed house, leaving firefighters to battle a blaze fueled by an active natural gas leak until Capt. Spence shut off the gas supply.
