Local man honored for reporting fire

Young County Sheriff Travis Babcock on Saturday honored an Elbert man who stopped to investigate a fire last month while driving home from his job at Tower Extrusions and ended up saving a barn and the lives of two dogs.

Dheaven Moses, 19, said he was driving down State Highway 79 at about 3:45 p.m. on Feb. 10 when he saw smoke rising from a barn about 200 yards off the road.

“I saw smoke, and I stopped to look at it for a minute and saw the barn was on fire so I went up there to see if anybody was up there and ... it didn’t look like it so I called the Sheriff ’s Office,” he said at a celebration at Hudson’s on Main.

The property owners, Chuch and Barbara Thompson were out of town that day, as was their grandson, who lives with them.

Olney EMS and the Olney Volunteer Fire Department responded to the blaze and had it out within 15 minutes, said paramedic Jenny Tomlinson.

She and paramedic Shanda Morcom noticed that Mr. Moses had gone out of his way to investigate the fire and stayed to help firefights until the blaze was extinguished.

“He had to put in some effort to get up there, and it ended up being a dog house that had caught on fire - a heat lamp malfunctioned and it was up against their barn,” Ms. Tomlinson said.

The two paramedics thought he should be recognized for his public service so they approached Sheriff Babcock and OVFD to present the certificate. Olney Hamilton Hospital helped to create the award, and Hudson’s on Main provided the space and a gift certificate for an honorary supper, Ms. Tomlinson said.

The OVFD put out the fire with moderate damage to one wall, Mr. Thompson said.

“Dheaven deserves it,” she said.

Mr. Moses, who was homeschooled, graduated from high school last year and lives in Elbert, he said.

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson said the north wall of the barn sustained some water damage but their grandson’s two dogs, who were penned up next to the barn, were unharmed.

They said they lost some antiques and tools in the blaze.

Mr. Thompson works in the Metroplex and Mrs. Thompson was shopping in Wichita Falls that afternoon. Their 17-year-old grandson was getting a haircut in Graham when a heat lamp caught the dog house on fire. The “We are just so thankful for the quick response it was truly a blessing that they got there so quickly,” Mrs. Thompson said of OVFD. “They did a spectacular job of trying to contain it as best they could.”