Officer

California Highway Patrol

11/28/1996

Special Act Award (Gold)

On November 28, 1996, Thanksgiving Day, Officer Daniel Saam noticed a house fire while on patrol. He called dispatch and asked them to notify the fire department and then broke through an outside side gate to gain access to the home. One man had escaped but told Officer Saam that there was someone else inside the house. Officer Saam entered the house through the kitchen door and went down the hallway to a locked bedroom. The occupant was on medication for a serious ankle injury and did not hear the officer , so Officer Saam forced the door open . The man resisted the officer’s attempt to get him to leave as he needed his ankle brace to walk and couldn’t find it in the smoky room. Realizing that time was running out, Officer Saam began pulling the man out against his will. It was a wrestling match all the way, the occupant kicking and fighting the officer’s efforts. By this time visibility was near zero and the house was completed filled with the smoke down to the floor. Officer Saam, coughing, gasping and struggling with his uncooperative victim in the dark, began inching his way to the exit. Just as he approached the doorway, he and the victim were pulled to safety outside by a neighbor.