3 Police Officers Honored For Saving Woman In Horsham Fire

HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, PA —She was trapped in her Broadway Avenue home with heavy smoke conditions surrounding her.

A fire was burning in a laundry room, and a bedridden woman was trapped in a room nearby. That's when three Horsham Township police officers sprang into action.

On Nov. 23, the police officers responded to the fire after receiving information that the caller’s mother was in a room right next to a laundry room where the fire was burning.

The woman was bedridden, and family members were unable to get her out of the home.

Officer Nicholas Tschepikiewski entered the home through the front door but was unable to reach the woman due to the heavy smoke conditions.

Corp. Robert Johnson and Police Officer Michael Costello arrived shortly thereafter, and the three officers proceeded to the rear of the house to make another rescue attempt.

They smashed a sliding glass door, made entry into the home, and located the victim lying merely feet away from fire. The officers then slid the mattress, with the victim lying on it, out of the home and got her to safety.

"Corp. Johnson and Police Officers Tschepikiewski and Costello exhibited uncommon courage, without consideration for their own safety to save the life of a resident," Police Chief Scott Fida said.

For their "acts of heroism and outstanding courage," the three received a commendation for heroism from Fida at a recent Horsham Township Council meeting.