A Hero Among Us: Young Police Officer Runs Into Burning Building to Save a Toddler

We talk a lot about villains and not enough about heroes. Here’s a true hero. Meet Rogersville, Alabama, police officer Tyler Dison.

Twenty-four-year-old Rogersville police officer Tyler Dison was just about finished with his shift Sunday morning when he heard an ominous call over the radio: “Apartments on fire with possible entrapment of a child.” He rushed to the scene thinking, “I gotta save this child at all costs,” he told WAAY 31 News. 

When Dison pulled up to the scene, the boy’s mother was screaming, “My baby’s in there!” The child was only three years old. Dison ran into the burning upstairs apartment and fought his way through heavy, thick smoke to find the child. Within minutes, he carried the child to safety. 

“If I hadn’t done something, that baby was surely going to die,” Dison said. “His breathing was very shallow, he was very lethargic. He was groaning, he wasn’t really responding.” WAAY 31 reported that the man who started the fire was the baby’s father. He’s now held on a $420,000 bond.

Although Dison’s uniform was singed during the ordeal and he received minor injuries, he was most concerned about the boy. “I’m just blessed that baby is doing okay.”

Dison said he prepared and trained for an emergency such as this. “I grew up in this town, I want to protect it always.” The sentiment runs in his family: his big brother is also a police officer in Rogersville. “He always inspired me to do things and I just wanted to be just like him.”

“He did what we’re out here to do, to protect lives, save lives,” said Rogersville Police Chief Brian Hudson. Hudson added that Dison will be honored for his heroic action. 

Thank you Officer Dison for your service. 

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Nancy Flory, Ph.D., is a senior editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.