P
ower poles, trees and houses had been tossed like matchsticks during the massive EF-4 tornado that plowed through Western Kentucky the night of Dec. 10, 2021, and in the aftermath, in the dark of midnight, the landscape was eerie.
James Craig, senior service technician; Darrel Smith, senior construction operator; and Bill Stanley, damage prevention specialist, all from Atmos Energy, were among the first responders picking their way through the devastation in the drizzling rain, searching for blowing gas from knocked-over meters. Suddenly, Smith shouted out to his coworkers: “Any firefighters around where you are? There’s a little fire here in a garage.”
By the time Craig located a volunteer firefighter and they navigated their way through the rubble, the fast-moving fire had engulfed the garage and was licking at the beams of the house. Then a neighbor shouted: “They’re still in the house.”
Craig immediately ran to the back door, with Stanley close behind. After beating on it and hearing no response, they broke the glass to get the door open.
Inside, the smoke was already thick as they yelled out for the homeowners. Finally, an elderly woman and a dog came downstairs, followed by the woman’s husband. Both were moving slowly, disoriented from sleep and smoke.
The two Atmos employees had a hard time making them understand the danger, as the woman insisted on returning upstairs for her medicine. Stanley had to take her by the shoulders and turn her around. “Do you see that orange?” he said, pointing at one of the rooms down the hall. “That’s the fire—we’ve got to go.”
That’s when it clicked. The two men were finally able to rush the couple and their dogs out the door. Outside, huddled under the rain jackets that the Atmos employees gave off their own backs, the couple could only watch as their entire home was taken by the fire. “They were shaking all over in shock,” said Stanley. “They thought they were safe … they dodged the tornado,” added Daniel Mayfield, operations supervisor for Atmos.
The couple lost their home, but they had their lives. For the Atmos employees, there was never any question about jumping into action. “There was no way we’d stay back here, not knowing if anybody was in there or not,” said Craig.
“It’s a special breed of people to choose to run into a fire instead of away from it,” added Travis Greenwood, manager of safety. “It takes a special courage and heart … and because of that, two people and their pets are alive today.”