At the March 23 town council meeting, Stafford EMS Chief Michael Essig and Ptl. Chris Smith were presented with Lifesaving Valor Awards for their actions in October 2020 that saved a woman from natural gas poisoning.

Essig said they arrived on the scene to find a woman outside screaming that someone was inside the house, unresponsive. They could tell right away the gas in the house was over the lower explosive limit, that the parts per million were at a concentration known as immediately dangerous to life or health.

But to the claim of heroism, Smith demurred: “It’s just something that comes naturally to us, first aid, fire…