The morning of January 20 could’ve been a fatal day for Jerry Gray. Gray noticed his “dog was behaving unusually.” He smelled gasoline and followed the smell to the patio. That is when a fireball came straight for his face. He jumped through his ground-floor bedroom window and crawled to the middle of his driveway.
“I was going in out and of consciousness, I remember hearing and seeing things,” Gray recalled. “I wasn’t in pain.”
When EMTs arrived on the scene, they couldn’t get to him because of how overwhelming the smoke and fire was. Gray needed medical attention fast. Some may have given up hope in this situation but Gray said “there was an angel looking over my shoulder.”
When the smoke and fire subsided, Ramsey County officers Deputy Allison Johnke and Sgt. Bill Earl, rushed to Gray. They administered first aid to him, covered him with blankets, and put him in the back of the squad car. They drove back to Highway 20 and he was placed in the ambulance.
“I remember some yelling and the sheriffs dragging me,” Gray said. “The last thing I remember was ambulance doors closing and then waking up at St. Paul Regions Hospital.”
Gray was in the hospital’s burn unit and was kept in a coma for at least three weeks. He had burns to his legs, torso, and face. Scars are still visible on his left arm and he had to be placed on a feeding tube. He still coughs up a lot of mucus.
On May 21, both Earl and Johnke were presented with Life Saving Awards by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department at the courthouse.
“They acted in accordance to their training and they put their safety in front of everything else to save this gentleman’s life,” Sherriff Bryan Lang told the Journal.
“I just kept thanking them,” Gray said. “I couldn’t thank them enough.”
County Commission Chairman Jeff Frith also praised the first responders at the awards ceremony. “I’d just like to say on behalf of the Ramsey County Commission, how extremely proud we are of our first responders,” he said. “Your efforts are always appreciated.”
“I did my job,” Earl told the Journal.
