Greg Dorn gets an Award

Plowman honored for saving trapped driver
Catherine Rodriguez
January 27, 2006

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plow driver who rescued a man from his burning car in December was given an award at Thursday's Safe80 Task Force meeting.State Rep. Mario Scavello, R-176, presented the award to Gregory Dorn to acknowledge his actions early in the morning of Dec. 3.Dorn was driving a PennDOT plow truck on Route 715 in Chestnuthill Township at 3:35 a.m. when his progress was stopped by a fallen tree blocking the road. He thought he noticed flames on the roadway possibly caused by a fallen wire. As he took a closer look, he realized it was an overturned car on fire.


Dorn grabbed his fire extinguisher, ran to the car and heard the driver screaming. Realizing that the extinguisher was useless, he tried to get into the car but couldn't."I didn't think — I had no protective gear with me, not even my work gloves — I just kicked the windshield in and grabbed the guy and pulled him out," said Dorn.The driver, Thomas O'Reilly, was taken to the hospital and treated for broken ribs and minor burns. Dorn had some cuts to his hands from pulling O'Reilly through the smashed windshield after he kicked it in."It must have happened right before I got there," said Dorn. "The car wasn't burning too bad. The flames weren't very big."Dorn has been a firefighter with the West End Fire Company for 15 years."We train for stuff like this all the time," he said. "The difference is that we train in pairs and groups. I never thought I'd be doing something like this all alone.""Its nice to get an award," he added. "But I'd do it again in a minute."
from www.poconorecord.com