Just a simple “thanks” would be plenty. Or maybe “you did a great job” or perhaps a few “high fives all around” is enough. Today we’re helping celebrate the saving of a woman’s life by three Rural Metro Fire professionals – Lt. Cameron Rood, Firefighter Nick Johnson and Firefighter/Paramedic Misty Weimer.

Misty Weimar receives Distinguished Service Award

That’s the crew on Engine 230 out of Station 30 in Halls, a Blue Shift team together for 2 ½ years.

In the early hours of Dec. 6, 2024, between 2:30 and 3 a.m., the dispatch alarm sounded for a structure fire in the 100 block of Keith Way Lane in Halls. Four minutes later Weimer, behind the wheel, pulled their engine into the yard of a single-wide mobile home with visible smoke pouring out. A secondary dispatch, Rood said, alerted them that one occupant was unable to exit the home on their own.

Rood and Johnson immediately entered the home with a fire hose while Weimer managed the hose line from the engine.

“Nick found the victim in the hallway outside of the fire room, face down and coughing and crying out for help,” Rood said. “We rolled the victim onto her back and performed an extremity drag back to the front door, where we handed the victim off to the AMR ambulance crew.”

Two others, one the woman’s daughter, escaped without injuries.

The elderly woman lived. A life saved. Rood had this to say about this life saved on a cold December morning: “It was a good result. We did our job and any other Rural Metro crew would have done the same thing.”

And he quickly added: “It’s against my personality to accept praise.”

But, well-earned praise came their way, and it’s the highest praise a firefighter can receive in the fire service. On Feb. 4, 2025, Rural Metro Chief Jeff Devlin honored Rood and Johnson with the prestigious “Corona Civica Award” for saving a life during a live-fire situation. It is issued by the fire department itself when the chief obtains consensus from the command staff and Awards Committee. The Corona Civica is awarded when there was a high degree of risk posed to the rescuers arising from the circumstances necessitating the rescue, Devlin said.

Devlin also presented Firefighter Weimer with the Rural Metro Distinguished Service Award “for the support she gave to the interior crew conducting the rescue.”

Also, Knox County Commission honored these three Our Town Heroes at its monthly meeting in February.

In addition to their teamwork on Engine 230, these three have something unique in common – all of their fathers were firefighters.

Rood is a 10-year veteran with Rural Metro. The agency and profession run in the family. Rood’s father, Jody, was a 20-year veteran who retired as a captain and still works in the fire suppression industry. He also had two uncles who were battalion chiefs – Jerome, still with Rural Metro, and Johnathan, who works at the Y-12 National Security Complex in its fire department – and an aunt, Mary Beth, who retired as a firefighter/paramedic.

Johnson joined Rural Metro 3-½ years ago after being in its Explorer program. He’s a part-time firefighter today and a full-time student who will graduate from the University of Tennessee with a degree in business administration in May. He is a Halls High graduate. What will he do after graduation? “If they’ll have me, I hope I’ll be fulltime with Rural Metro,” he said.

Weimer, a native Californian, brought her skillset to Rural Metro in 2020. She and her husband have a son who is 7 and a stepson who is 21.

When asked, Rood did explain that mobile homes make their jobs more dangerous. “They are more lightweight and the fires spread quickly. They’re more combustible. The fire and the water also can make the floors weaker and we have to be careful not to fall through into the crawl space.”

And we asked Chief Devlin for his comments on these three Heroes:

“Lt. Rood, FF Weimer and FF Johnson are exactly what anyone would want or expect out of an emergency response team. Aggressive, effective, prepared and humble about their actions. Myself and the entire organization here at Rural Metro Fire are extremely proud of them.”

High fives all around! “I’ll take that,” Rood said.

Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email him at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.

Our Town Hero is sponsored by Aubrey’s Restaurants.