NC Firefighter Thriving after Near Tragedy

It took 55 days in a hospital, skin grafts, 11 surgeries and swift action from his fellow firefighters to save Jeff Young.

But one year after after the New Hope firefighter fell through a collapsed floor and was pinned inside a trailer fully engulfed in flames, the 59-year-old says he's feeling "120 percent."

Young was recently named the agency's Firefighter of the Year for a third straight year. One of the men he credits with saving his life, Assistant Chief John Worley, is the New Hope Officer of the Year for a third straight time, as well.

But ask Worley and he'll tell you: the Dec. 22, 2017, fire at Sugarcane Lane played no role in the accolade.

"I've heard a lot of people say the reason he got it is because he got hurt," Worley said. "That's bull crap. He's here more than the fire chief is here. If anything needs to be done, it doesn't matter what time day or night. It doesn't matter if we get back at 4 a.m., he's the one here washing trucks so we can go to work."

Young was trapped inside the house by a collapsed floor that night, and a Union Road firefighter struggled to get him out. Worley ran inside the home, applied pressure to Young's air pack and freed him from the hole.

Young, a retired Department of Public Safety employee getting ready to retire in June from a 35-year career in the Air National Guard, spent time in hospitals in Charlotte and Chapel Hill.

He'll have scarring on his legs for the rest of his life, but aside from occasional shin pain he now feels fine.

So when he returned to work in July, he gave it everything he had.

"I knew I was coming back because the whole time I was going through my surgeries I was telling (son, Matt Young, the New Hope fire chief) I was ready to get back on the truck," Young said. "When you get knocked off the horse you either quit or continue to ride. I was champing at the bit to get back. If I didn't I was letting myself down and the department down."

Fire department awards were announced at New Hope's annual Christmas party. Young says he didn't expect to be named the group's top firefighter at the celebration.

"I was shocked," he said. "I did not expect it. I did not want it. I don't do it for the recognition... I'm of the old-school work ethic. You go and give the best you got."

But if there is anybody who exemplifies what it means to be a firefighter, Young's that example, Worley said. The assistant chief recounted a time this year when he noticed fading red paint on two doors inside department headquarters.

"The next two or three days, at 10, 11 o'clock at night he's sanding these things down and painting them, just out of the blue," he said.

And if there's anybody who should be recognized as top officer, Young thinks Worley's the guy.

Worley, promoted during the middle of the year, also works full time at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. With an uncle on staff, Worley spent much of his childhood riding bikes around the department he knew he'd one day serve.

He joined the first day he was eligible to in November 1999.

"It's the best adrenaline rush you can ever have, especially when the pager goes off and it says there's a fire going through the roof," Worley said.

"We need more like him," Young added.

Matt Young works full time at the Gastonia Fire Department, meaning he's away from New Hope while he works shifts there. By having his father and Worley on staff he knows things are in good hands when he's gone.

"I'm away for 24 hours at a time," he said. "It's a sense of peace knowing I don't have to worry about this place when I'm not here."

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