Good Samaritan a hero in the eyes of the families he helped and Lincoln's Fire Chief

 

[May 20, 2022] 

The Lincoln Fire Department was called out at 11:55 p.m. on Wednesday evening to a report of a structure fire with people inside at 309 North Jackson Street. When the fire department arrived, all the people had been evacuated from the building, and a Good Samaritan who had helped two separate families was nowhere to be found.

Regardless, Lincoln Fire Chief Bob Dunovsky soon got word that had it not been for this person, who was the one that called 911 with the information about the fire, those two households might have been in much worse shape by the time the first responders arrived.

Dunovsky listened as the family members who occupied 311 North Jackson Street, the apartment that was joined to the fire call address, talked about what happened. He learned of the heroic efforts of Derek Minder of Lincoln to assist the families.

According to one of the children who lived at 311, Minder had made numerous trips into the apartment at 309, working against the heavy smoke to drag out a man who was unconscious. The young person told Dunovsky that Minder went into the apartment and got the unconscious man off of the couch where he lay, but then had to run back out for fresh air. He returned to the apartment and pulled the man closer to the front door, but again had to go out and get fresh air. On the third try, Minder succeeded in getting the victim free of the home.

The resident at 309 North Jackson was taken to the hospital in Lincoln where he remained unconscious for quite some time, but was finally revived.

Dunovsky spent a good deal of time on Thursday tracking Minder down so he could speak to him about the event. Dunovsky said he finally got the chance to speak with Minder and express appreciation to him for his heroic efforts. He asked Minder to tell him about the incident from his perspective.

Minder was walking home at 11:55 p.m. after having visited his girlfriend’s home. He told Dunovsky that it was a normal routine for him to walk past the apartment duplex and he knew that there were children who lived in 311 that he saw outside on a regular basis.

He said as he walked past on Wednesday night, he could clearly hear a smoke alarm going off in one of the apartments. He told Dunovsky that the first thing he thought about was the children living in 311. He went to the door and aroused the family that was sleeping. He then went to the door of 309 to try to arouse the person or people living there. He got no response but could see through the window someone was in the living room. He said he heard a sound coming from the apartment, so he did what he had to do to get in the apartment, and began trying to get the person out of the house.

Dunovsky said when he asked Minder about the whole incident the man replied that he just did what any person would do. Dunovsky said however, he is of the personal opinion that is not true. Not many people would go into a fire and Dunovsky feels that Minder is a true local hero.

The source of the fire was found to be in the kitchen of the apartment at 309 and overall did about $50,000 in damage to the apartment duplex.

The family in apartment 311 was re-located to temporary housing by the American Red Cross, and Dunovsky said as far as he knew the victim of the fire in 309 spent the night in the hospital.

Dunovsky said he wanted to express personal appreciation to Minder on behalf of the city and the families whom he helped on Wednesday evening.

Assisting with the fire were the Lincoln Police Department, Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District, and the Logan County Paramedics.

The fire is currently under investigation by Lincoln Fire Investigators.

[Nila Smith]