CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WVEC) -- During the early morning hours of July 15, 2017, a four-alarm fire broke out at Chesapeake Crossing Apartments.
By about 4:30 a.m., first responders were on scene at the senior living complex.
As the fire began to spread between buildings, police jumped into action to save lives. Sgt. David Dashiell, Field Training Officer Russell Keene, and Officer Ryan Collins would go on to win medals of valor from the Chesapeake Police Department for their quick and courageous actions that day.
"You just have to go to the source of the fire and work your way out, which would be the game plan for anything," says Collins.
"But... you knew that you had to get [residents] out."
Receiving the medals on April 24, 2018, took the officers back to that morning when they had to face the raging fire.
Officer Keene recalls one of his most discomforting memories from that morning.
"For me, I think it was the sound and the heat [from the fire]," he said.
"You could feel the heat from far back. The closer you got, the louder it got. I never realized a fire actually had a sound to it other than just what you hear in, like, a fire pit or a fireplace. But it actually sounded like a machine ... moving and devouring the building as it moved."
However, the policemen had no time to waste. In order to assist as many residents as possible, they had to move fast.
Rushing into the burning buildings, the officers say seconds felt like minutes.
"It sounded like it was moving faster than it probably was," says Collins.
"You could actually watch [the fire] creep down the wall [of the building] if you stood still long enough to watch it," says Keene.
"But going into an apartment and coming back out, you noticed that [the fire] was gaining ground on you."
It would be hours before the officers were able to pause and take in what had happened.
"Later, after the shift was over and we were able to go home and take the clothes off that all had a charred smell to them from the smoke," says Keene.
" ... that's when you start to see the pictures and the news."
Officer Keen says he was able to piece together the impact of the fire and the devastation it left behind.
Dashiell, Keene, and Collins were among a number of first responders on scene that morning, and they say everyone contributed to the rescue effort.
"I think everybody [on scene] deserved [the medal of valor] as much as we did," says Collins.
"It's one of those things where you sit back and think about it. We signed up for this. This is what we're here to do."
Firefighters had the fire under control by 7 a.m. Three people died, six people were injured, and 144 apartments were inhabitable as a result.
But more than 150 residents made it out safely, and the officers say it was all thanks to teamwork.
"Collectively, the Chesapeake Police Department midnight shift did an outstanding job," says Dashiell.
"And if it wasn't for everybody else who was here assisting us and assisting the residents, we couldn't have done what we did."
Crews from Suffolk, Norfolk, Moyock, and Virginia Beach assisted Chesapeake police and firefighters.
Nearly a year after the fire occurred, the apartment complex continues to rebuild. Meanwhile, the officers continue to reflect on the events of that life-altering morning.
"It'll stick with you forever," says Collins.
"I think now that you sit back and look at it, I think all three of us could go back play-by-play of what we did, what happened. So, that's just something you'll remember forever."
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