HANCOCK COUNTY — When Community School Corp. of Southern Hancock County board member Dan Walker isn’t working for the local school district, he’s either coaching a sports team in New Palestine or working at his full-time job as a career firefighter with the Pike Township Fire Department.
For 22 years, Walker, a lifetime Hancock County resident, has been a dedicated firefighter with the Pike Township Fire Department, located in Marion County and serving that community.
Recently, he and a fellow firefighter were recognized with a Medal of Merit for helping to save a baby’s life during an apartment fire that occurred Nov. 29, 2023 when family members could not find the child during a dangerous fire.
“It was a very humbling experience,” Walker said of being able to save the baby and being awarded the Medal of Merit.
Walker and his fellow firefighter, Ryan Forney, were acknowledged during a recent year-end celebration at the five station fire department in late February where they along with other firefighters were recognized for their service during 2023.
Walker said that firefighters were called to an apartment fire near one of their fire stations back in November and immediately sprang into action as soon as they arrived.
“When we got there, people were jumping off of balconies and out of windows,” Walker said. “Once we helped with that, we went into the building to fight the fire.”
That’s when a father, who spoke a different language, came up to the firefighters and started shouting at them.
“All we could make out was there was a baby still in an apartment and this was a heavy fire so we were concerned,” Walker said.
Still, Walker, who was equipped with a thermal energy camera, went in with his partner, Forney, and they started a search for the baby.
“The fire happened around 11:30 at night, so we figured the baby had to be in a bedroom somewhere,” Walker said. “We headed that way and I searched one room and couldn’t find anything and my partner was searching another bedroom and that’s when I saw the crib.”
Walker’s partner told him he had checked the crib three different times, but could not find the baby. Walker then noted he could hear sounds of a baby coughing so they kept looking.
“We ended up finding the baby stuck in between two pillows on the mattress, which is why we could not get his body signature on the camera,” Walker said.
The firefighters immediately grabbed the baby, got on the radio and told their commander they found the child and were on their way out, but at that time, the dad had reentered the apartment to find his son.
“We literally ran face-to-face into him as we’re trying to run out,” Walker said. “But, he wouldn’t leave because he didn’t understand we had the baby.”
Walker ended up having to drag the dad out to safety.
“We all got out,” Walker said. “But, the baby and the dad did have some smoke inhalation.”
Walker noted during his 22 years of being a firefighter, that was one of the best moments of his career, seeing the father and baby reunited, safely.
“I’ve had a lot of bad experiences in my career of pulling people out of fires and cars that were mangled, and having done scuba dives where you’re pulling out bodies because people didn’t survive,” Walker said. “This was the first time where I’ve gone in and gotten someone out alive, so this was a truly rewarding and humbling experience.”
Walker, his wife Jessica, who is a school teacher at New Palestine Intermediate School, and their two sons are longtime members of the New Palestine community.
