Heroes Risked Life and Limb to Rescue Fire Victim

Kristopher Parker stood in council chambers and held on to his framed official certificate of heroism as a smiling audience looked on, waiting expectantly as he stepped before the microphone. Asked to say a few words, the 31 year old shared a brief statement, something that’s plagued him since it happened just three short months ago.

“A couple of minutes earlier,” he said, his feet already making a trail the rest of his body would soon follow. “A couple of minutes earlier and perhaps Mrs. Rudrow would still be alive.”

On Sept. 18, Parker and Robert Womble entered and pulled the 64 year old to safety. The sound of sirens grew in the distance as she lay on the grass, signaling help that couldn’t get there soon enough. Rudrow, conscious when she was rescued, suffered second and third degree burns to much of her body. She succumbed to her injuries .

If men who risked their lives to save another, to do what most would have lacked the courage to even attempt, still have doubts about their actions, certainly they can take solace in the one absolute truth that stands out among the all too-frequent what-ifs that must have played back in their minds since the fire: Phyllis Rudrow only had a chance because of their heroic efforts.

At its Wednesday night, Red Bank honored Parker and Womble for running in to the burning Dr. James Parker Boulevard home without regard for their own personal safety and attempting to save Rudrow. Known to each other and Rudrow through their church, , the two men arrived at the home independent of each other, rushing to the burning property out of concern that someone might be trapped inside.

“I just took off, dropped everything, and hopped the fence,” the 51-year-old Womble, who lives with his mother in the neighboring Evergreen Terrace apartment complex, said. “The house was exploding. Windows were blowing out. The smoke was to the extreme.”

Parker had reached the house moments earlier and succeeded in gaining entry by kicking in a back door blocked by accumulated debris. With 911 on the line in his Bluetooth earpiece, Parker screamed out for anyone that may have been trapped inside. Rudrow yelled back, he said, “I’m here, I’m here.”

Eventually, with Parker and Womble guiding each other through the thick smoke and intense heat, the pair found Rudrow, conscious and alive, pulled her out onto the safety of the lawn and waited for emergency crews to arrive. The home was completely destroyed by the fire.

Rudrow, a longtime teacher, was a first cousin to Red Bank’s own Count Basie, Mayor Pat Menna recalled. She had spent her entire life living in her Dr. James Parker Boulevard home; was born and raised there, lived with her mother until her death, and raised a son of her own there.

Though Rudrow, ultimately, did not survive, Menna asked both Parker and Womble to consider the sense of relief she must have felt then, laying there helpless and alone on the floor of her burning home, as the two men, men from her community braving the same fire, came to her rescue.

Prior to the start of the meeting the council lauded the efforts of the two men who exemplify, as Councilwoman Sharon Lee said in her public address, the spirit of community that exists in Red Bank. Womble is a lifelong Red Bank resident, and though Parker currently lives in Long Branch, he grew up in the borough and credits the town for helping make him the man he is today.

“This is what Red Bank is all about,” Lee said. “We see it everyday. You do the best you can every opportunity you can.”