On this day (February 13) in 2011, Craig Morgan, best known as a United States Army veteran and active duty Army Reservist and country hitmaker, saved two children from a burning house. The incident took place near his hometown of Dickson, Tennessee, while he and his family were on their way home from their local gas station.
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The day started like any other. Morgan had just made it home after playing a handful of shows on the road. He was enjoying his downtime with his wife and two sons. While he didn’t mention what they were doing at the time, one can imagine they were likely on their way home from shopping or having dinner at a local restaurant. Whatever they spent the afternoon and early evening doing, the Morgan family chose to stop at the gas station to fill the tank before going back to the house.
[RELATED: Craig Morgan Says Military Service Isn’t Over After Army Reserve Promotion]
While at the gas station, the family smelled smoke but didn’t think much of it. People burning trash or piles of brush was not out of the ordinary. However, one of Morgan’s sons was a little more perceptive. He alerted his parents that a nearby house was on fire. Initially, the parents dismissed the claim, saying the smell was likely the result of a controlled burn of some kind. Then, Mrs. Morgan noticed that a nearby roof was on fire.
Morgan and his sons then approached the house, ready to help.
Craig Morgan Says He’s No Hero
In an interview, Morgan recalled that as he and his boys approached the house, a woman ran out screaming that her kids were still inside. At that point, he told one of his sons to find a hose to spray the house and keep the flames at bay. Morgan entered the house to save the kids.
“I ran in the house, and it was smoked up,” Morgan recalled. “There was one guy, probably 10 years old or so, and he ran from me, of course. He was terrified because of the smoke. Another child came out of the bedroom, and I grabbed him and gave him to the mom.”
Eventually, Craig Morgan was able to get both kids out of the house. Thanks to him, everyone got out of the house unharmed. However, he wasn’t done. After everyone was safe, he took the hose and started to douse the flames. Then, the volunteer fire department showed up. “We extinguished the fire, and I left,” Morgan said of what happened next.
Morgan doesn’t see what he did as heroic. Instead, he believes it was just the right thing to do. “I did what anyone else in the same position would have done. I just happened to be the one that was there,” he said.
Morgan also took the opportunity to teach his sons something important. “I told my kids, ‘When you see something like that, that’s what you do.’”
Featured Image by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for CMT
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