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Trash Truck Driver Honored For Saving Catonsville Family From Burning Home

CATONSVILLE, Md. (WJZ)—Care, concern and quick action. A Baltimore County recycling crew is honored for saving a family from their burning home.

Mary Bubala has the story.

Intense fire and smoke damaged Patty Miller's Catonsville home. Just hours earlier on Sept. 4, she and her family were sound asleep when the fire broke out.

That's when Bruce Wood, a trash/recycling truck driver out early collecting garbage, noticed smoke coming from the roof of the home on Bathurst Road.

He banged on the Millers' front door, got them and their dog out and stopped them from going back inside as the fire consumed the upstairs of the home.

"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here. Thank you so much forever," Miller said.

Wednesday, county executive Kevin Kamenetz presented Wood with a hero pin for his bravery that morning.

"I just went in and just started banging on the windows," Wood said. "We screamed as loud as we could and ran around front 'cause we weren't getting no response."

Wood is a lifelong Catonsville resident. He has worked with the Baltimore County trash/recycling collection for seven years.

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