State Traffic Officer

California Highway Patrol

10/28/1993

Special Act Award (Gold)

At 1:03 a.m., Officer Don Burnett and his partner Officer Linda Burnett responded to a fire personnel call regarding a smoke coming from a trailer and children crying. Upon arrival, they found a trailer engulfed in smoke. Deputies Don DeWitt and Wally Wallman were already inside of the trailer having gained entry by breaking out the front window. As Officer Burnett climbed on a box in front of the front window, Deputy Wallman appeared in the window, gasping for air. Deputy Wallman advised Officer Burnett that he could not locate the children and he had lost Deputy DeWitt inside. Officer Burnett entered the mobile home through the window and began to search for the children and Deputy DeWitt. The interior of the mobile home was filled from ceiling to floor with thick acrid smoke and visibility was limited to inches. Additionally, all of the walls, windows, and doors were obscured with blankets and the floor was littered with clothing and debris. Officer Burnett met Deputy DeWitt in the hallway and took a small child from him. Officer Burnett took the child to his partner Officer Linda Burnett and handed the child out of the window to her. He then continued his search. Officer Burnett began pulling the blankets off the walls to locate the doors. Once located, he forced them open. At the rear door he again encountered Deputy DeWitt carrying the second child and guided him safely out of the door. Outside, he and the Deputy tried to find out if there were still people in the trailer. Unsure, Officer Burnett told Deputy DeWitt that he was going back in. He re-entered the trailer a second time and conducted a search of the bathroom and rear bedroom. He realized the smoke was just too thick and he was having trouble breathing, so he crawled back to the rear door and exited the trailer. The children would surely have perished. The trailer doors had been locked from the outside by their mother.