Lexington County firefighter receives Jeffrey Vaden Chavis Medal of Valor

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Engineer Zachary Pfentner with the Lexington County Fire Service received the Jeffrey Vaden Chavis Medal of Valor after pulling a man from a burning home.

One morning last December, as Pfentner headed home from his shift at the Gaston fire station, he says he noticed a significant column of smoke.

“As I got closer I could see up the hill that this was a house fire,” says Pfentner.

He called 911, as a young woman came outside — unaware that the house was on fire. Pfentner says she quickly got her child and another woman from the home, but told Pfentner an older man was still upstairs and would need help. He says he found the man on the stairwell trying to escape.

“I tried to put his arm around my shoulder but he wasn’t responsive or alert, so I had to take him by his hands and drag him down the steps and started to drag him the rest of the way out towards the front door,” Pfentner says.

He says the young lady came back inside the home and helped him pull the man the rest of the way out.

With everyone safely outside and his gear in his truck, Pfentner says he suited up and helped the other firefighters when they arrived.

“It just feels normal, I don’t know how to describe it, it’s my job, we do it fairly often, so it’s just one of those things where there’s a task to be done and you just do your task,” Pfentner says.

Pfentner was awarded the Jeffrey Vaden Chavis Medal of Valor for that December day — an award named for a fellow Lexington County firefighter who was critically injured while battling a house fire in 2001. Chavis passed away 26 days later.

He is the first firefighter from Lexington County Fire Service to receive the award — which is only given out in exceptional cases. Chavis’s parent’s presented Pfentner with the award.

“Indescribable, just the pleasure and honor to have them be the ones to give me the award, it really really meant a lot,” Pfentner says.

Pfentner hasn’t been able to speak with the homeowners since that day, and believes the young lady deserves credit for the day’s positive outcome as well.

Pfentner has been a firefighter with Lexington County for six years.