Evesham officer Kevin Long stands alongside his family, Police Chief Walt Miller, township council members and State Sen. Latham Tiver after receiving a proclamation for his rescue actions.
Evesham Township council recognized police officer Kevin Long at a July meeting for his recent rescue of two residents from an apartment fire.
Police Chief Walt Miller talked about the June blaze and commended Long for his lifesaving actions.
“One of the things with the police department is from our perspective, we get to see a lot of what the officers do day in and day out, as all of them wear body cameras and their cars have cameras,” Miller said. “Through that process, we get to see video a lot of times that the public doesn’t, and there’s some pretty remarkable things done by our officers every day.”
Miller added that video of Long’s rescue was “a pretty good opportunity to show the public what police officers do and the selfless sacrifice that they give to people they don’t know.”
Long was dispatched to the Evesham fire on June 16 and realized an elderly couple were still inside after a blaze that started in the kitchen of their apartment. The wife had been tending to her husband, who is unable to walk. While ensuring the woman stayed safe, Long reentered the apartment and was able to navigate through near-zero visibility to help her husband escape, too.
“The wife was trying to get her husband out (of the burning house),” Miller noted. “She wouldn’t leave him. Kevin went there and got her out … and ultimately went back in and got the husband out as well, suffering smoke inhalation in the process.”
The couple were transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. Long was taken to the hospital for further evaluation and released shortly thereafter. Support for the rescue came from Evesham Fire-Rescue Quint 2235, which helped put out the blaze and prevented damage to adjoining apartments and their residents.
“There’s a second part of the video that wasn’t released,” Miller added of Long’s rescue. “It (shows) Kevin got himself together after trying to cough the smoke out, then went back and helped evacuate the other 16 apartments in that building.”
Among those honoring Long at the meeting were township council, and State Sen. Latham Tiver presented Long with a proclamation on behalf of himself, Assembly members Andrea Katz and Mike Torrissi Jr.; and the entire state legislature.
“I just want to say thank you again, for your service to our community, taking care of residents,” Mayor Jackie Veasy remarked. “You come and take care of us, and you put us in front of your beautiful family that day. And I can never take that for granted.”
The video of Long’s actions has appeared on news outlets across the nation. It can be viewed on the Evesham police department’s YouTube Channel.
