Local deputy honored as a hero

By John M. Ayers

The Gilchrist County Commissioners presented Brittany Lee, a Gilchrist County Sheriff deputy with a plaque acknowledging her Outstanding Heroism in saving a woman’s life.
Lee is credited with rescuing a woman from inside a burning home in the southwest section of Trenton on April 16, 2011.

Gilchrist County Commissioners recognized Brittany Lee on Monday afternoon. Shown left to right, Commissioner Tommy Langford, Commissioner D. Ray Harrison, Commissioner Randy Durden, Brittany Lee, Sheriff Daniel Slaughter, Commissioner Sharon Langford and Commissioner Kenrick Thomas.
Photo by Julee Brideson.

The Gilchrist County native was just about to go off duty when the 911 call came in saying the rental home was on fire. She remembers hearing the caller tell dispatch that a woman, man and child were able to get out of the home, but one woman was still inside. Lee immediately jumped in her patrol car and rushed to the scene.
Calling on her four years spent volunteering with the Fanning Springs Fire Department and six years EMT experience, Lee rushed into the home, which was fully engulfed with flames and found a disoriented woman between the bedroom and the bathroom.
The kitchen and the back portion of the house were ablaze when Lee pulled the woman by her arms outside of the home and into her patrol car.
At the time, Lee said she had been to numerous structure fires in the past, but never to one where a person was still inside the home.
Lee not only saved the woman’s life, but she also saw that the woman’s 2-year-old child was checked out by EMT once they arrived on scene.
“I just kept thinking what if that was my niece or nephew,” Lee recalls.
Lee’s mother, Sabra Lindsey, attended Monday’s board meeting to see her daughter recognized by the county commissioners as a local hero.