VBT fire fighter John Henderson earns national Award of Valor

John Henderson of Van Buren Township, who recently offered his resignation to the VBT Fire Department where he had served for 15 years, has been honored with a 2015 Firehouse Magazine Michael O. McNamee Award of Valor.
Henderson and other honorees were honored for displaying great bravery in the face of dangerous conditions. Henderson placed fourth in the national ranking.
The story of Henderson’s bravery was described in the August issue of Firehouse Magazine:
“On Dec. 13, 2015, the Van Buren Fire Department was dispatched to a working house fire in a tri-level-style home. Lt. John Henderson arrived with his partner, Firefighter Campbell, and saw that the second floor of the home was well involved with fire. Henderson was alerted to fact that a young child was still inside the home. He rushed to the front door and directed his attention to the area where police officers had first observed a child; however, he could only see smoke and fire conditions. With the fire only about 12–18 inches off of the floor, he donned his SCBA only to realize he had left his helmet on the truck. Sensing he only had a matter of seconds to attempt a rescue, he entered the front door and began crawling on his stomach. Moments later, he felt the soft clothing of a small toddler. Under intense heat, Henderson dragged her with him back to the front door. He was met there by Firefighter Campbell, who began providing medical care to the unresponsive girl. The 2-year-old was treated at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital after suffering burns to more than 50 percent of her body. She has since been released.”
Henderson reportedly offered his resignation from the VBT Fire Department recently when a new rule was instituted that said paid-per-call fire fighters had to work four duty crew shifts a month or be written up. This eliminates Henderson since his job as a teacher of closed-space rescues takes him from the community for weeks at a time. Last week he was in Arkansas, where he was called to help in a rescue.
Just two weeks before pulling the little girl from the house fire in VBT, Henderson reportedly was promoted to lieutenant in the fire department. Then he was given a deadline of 30 days to complete a project of rewriting and bringing up to date a manual on fire scene procedures or he would be put on probation for a year. Henderson had been delayed with that project because of his work in installing a support beam to make training safer for fellow firefighters. He resigned his lieutenant position and went back to fire fighter.
He was referred to as Lt. Henderson when he was honored on Father’s Day weekend with a state award for the girl’s rescue and also in the recent Firehouse Magazine award, but now is referred to as fire fighter.
On Tuesday, Fire Chief Dan Besson said Henderson’s resignation is not “official.”
The Michael O. McNamee Award of Valor reflects a larger mission to change firefighters’ perspectives about what it means to be brave in the face of danger. Specifically, the award is now named after Worcester, MA, Fire Department District Chief (ret.) Mike McNamee because of the courage he displayed at the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse Fire in December 1999, when he made the bold decision to stop additional Worcester firefighters from entering the building when there were already six lost inside.
Judges in the nationwide contest for the honors were Fire Chief Paul Bourgeois of the Superstition Fire & Medical District, AZ; Deputy Chief William Goldfeder of the Loveland-Symmes, OH, Fire Department; Assistant Chief Brian Schaeffer of the Spokane, WA, Fire Department; and Deputy Chief John B. Tippett, Jr. of the Charleston, SC, Fire Department.