ELMHURST\u2019s local policeman last week yesterday joined an exclusive group reserved for police officers who\u2019ve demonstrated extreme bravery.<\/p>\n
Leading Senior Constable Grant Healey became just the 352nd recipient of the Victoria Police Bravery Award in the 169 year history of the force.<\/p>\n
The Advocate met up with Leading Senior Constable Healey recently to discuss his selfless actions to try and save an elderly man in 2019.<\/p>\n
Leading Senior Constable Healey was off duty and relaxing with friends on December 28, 2019 when word came through that a nearby home was engulfed by flames.<\/p>\n
\u201cMyself and a couple of the locals decided we\u2019d have a barbeque and a few beers and someone\u2019s phone rang and I could tell by the look on their face something was wrong,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said there\u2019s smoke coming from the pub and I stood up and could see flames above the roof top and thought wow she\u2019s really cracking and we all just started running for cars and running up the street.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGeoff Rogers and John Keith and Sarah Keith went to the fire shed and got the ultra light and myself and others went to the house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Leading Senior Constable Healey was one of the first people on scene, and attempted to kick in a front door which wouldn\u2019t budge.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I went around the back and kicked in that door a bit easier and the heat that pushed back on me was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I\u2019ve taken a big breath and burnt my throat, burnt my nose and in that split second I got a glimpse of John\u2019s (Francisi) walking frame at his bedroom door and thought he\u2019s got to be in his room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leading Senior Constable Healey crawled through the burning house on his stomach to the bedroom wearing nothing but shorts and a singlet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sucking air through the floor boards trying to get up to his bedroom door, got to the door and it was hot and bulging and I though it was going to explode when I open it, so I just hugged the ground as hard as I could and pushed the door open.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a glimpse of John\u2019s leg and his two feet, basically he had just sat up on the bed and fallen backwards, obviously overwhelmed with smoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just grabbed his leg and pulled him off the bed and started sliding backwards as best as I could. By this stage the (CFA) guys had the ultralight out the front and had smashed the windows and were hosing water into the house which is probably why I didn\u2019t get burnt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even think here I am dragging a disabled man by his leg, it was so intense, we just had to get out. I had these big globs of flame dropping around me which I later found was an aluminium fan melting in the heat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout half way out we got hooked up on a corner and one of the locals Justin McKenzie and Steve Whitting from out at Crowlands had come in far enough to be able to assist me get him out the back door and by this stage I was in a bit of strife myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paramedics rushed Leading Senior Constable Healey to hospital where he spent the night in intensive care due to concerns about his lungs.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t lose singe a hair on my body. I don’t know how, someone was looking over me,” he said.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the occupant of the house John Francisi, who had previously suffered a stroke, could not be revived and was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n
Leading Senior Constable Healey said nothing could have prepared him for the situation he confronted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do wildfire awareness and we train for bushfires but this was completely foreign. You don\u2019t get a chance to think, you just react,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Leading Senior Constable Healey received his award from the Chief Commissioner at a ceremony at the Police Academy last Thursday.<\/p>\n
The award recognises \u201cexceptional bravery displayed in extremely perilous circumstances\u201d, but Leading Senior Constable Healey said the term hero makes him uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve known a dozen coppers who should have received this award. It\u2019s really embarrassing for me to be called hero,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A number of Elmhurst residents who also assisted on the day will receive Victoria Police citizen Commendations in coming months including Geoff Penna, John and Sarah Keith, Justin McKenzie and Steve Whitting.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ELMHURST\u2019s local policeman last week yesterday joined an exclusive group reserved for police officers who\u2019ve demonstrated extreme bravery.
\nLeading Senior Constable Grant Healey became just the 352nd recipient of the Victoria Police Bravery Award in the 169 year history of the force.
\nThe Advocate met up with Leading Senior Constable Healey recently to discuss his selfless actions to try and save an elderly man in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[31],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/IMG_4245-3-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-dN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}