First Lt. Pernice White saved a man while off-duty in Gretna, Virginia.
White who is an EMT and 13 year member of the Gretna Rescue Squad was driving on Boxwood Road around 8pm last Tuesday when she came upon a burning vehicle.
The vehicle, her neighbors truck, had run off the road and was on fire with the driver still inside the truck.
It was off the side of the road and was dangerously wedged between trees.
White called 911 and as she got closer to the scene, she began to hear her neighbor’s screams.
White said she just knew she “had to try to do something.”
Pernice White approached the burning vehicle and pulled the much larger man through the driver side window of the truck.
White then pulled the man away from the truck and to safety before the fire department arrived and put out the flames.
According to White, her neighbor was awake, alert and talking after the rescue.
The neighbor was airlifted to Roanoke Memorial Hospital and his condition is unknown at this time.
The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors member Ben Farmer praised White’s brave actions in the rescue saying:
“It’s an act of heroism.”
Farmer said:
“Having the bravery to put your own wellbeing to the side to risk for a fellow citizen is the definition of heroism.”
Further demonstrating the traits of a hero, White credits the Gretna firefighters and rescue workers who helped her on scene by stating:
“We work together as a team, and we work together as a family.”
Christina Beutler is the creator of EMT Training Base. She is a former EMT and a current Registered Nurse. Christina’s path changed after taking a Basic First Aid class while in Community College, and a career in healthcare opened up. Working as an Emergency Medical Technician led to a passion for nursing and a job working in the Intensive Care Unit and Critical Care Unit right out of Nursing School. To learn more about Christina’s story, head over to the About page.
