News - Local

Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Moss Point men receive medals

MOSS POINT — Cpl. Lance Shipman kept his promise.

Moss Point’s mayor and aldermen last week presented medals of bravery to Shipman and officer J.D. Savage, both with the Moss Point Police Department, and Lt. Lee Vance with the Moss Point Fire Department, for rescuing a man from his burning home.

“He kept saying, ‘I’m going to die,’ but I told him he wasn’t going to die. We were going to get him out,” Shipman said.

Shipman has been on the city’s police force for three years, and he spent four years prior to that as a fireman. That training forced him into action early one morning in late August when he was the first to arrive at a house fire on Morningview Drive.

Shipman found Alphonse Ellis with his face pressed against the burglar bars, gasping for air.

Thick black smoke swirled around the man, thought to be in his 90s, as Shipman pulled at the bars that were designed to keep homeowners safe. In his panic, Ellis couldn’t find the key to unlock the bars, and though Shipman pulled as hard as he could, they wouldn’t budge.

“He was trapped in his own house,” Vance said.

Savage and Vance, who arrived separately moments after Shipman, helped rip the garage door off its rollers, then made their way into the home through a side entrance.

The fire was burning through the roof near the spot they’d seen Ellis, said Savage. “You could tell the man was pretty much on his last leg,” he said. “If we were going to get him, we had to get him then.”

But visibility was zero.

Shipman and Savage, as police officers entered the building without protective gear or oxygen masks. “You just take deep breaths and try to hold your breath as best as you can,” Shipman said.

In his rush, Vance entered without breathing equipment as well.

Feeling and listening their way through the house, the three were able to locate Ellis after several attempts and carry him out to safety.

“Doctors told us that if he’d been in there another 30 seconds he would have died,” Shipman said.

The whole ordeal lasted only three to five minutes, Shipman said.

Firefighters held the blaze to the attic and a bedroom, Vance said.

Shipman and Savage went with Ellis to Singing River Health System for treatment for smoke inhalation.

Hospital records show Ellis was released after a few days. A phone number listed for him has been temporarily disconnected.

Police Chief Sheila Smallman praised her officers and the fireman. “They knew the house was on fire and someone was inside. The first thing they do is protect and serve and that’s what they did,” she said.

Mayor Aneice Liddell is also proud of the city employees.

“It’s an honor to be able to recognize those that go beyond the call of duty to do their job and put their lives on the line,” she said.