Xavier groundskeepers save 2 women, pet dog from Norwood house fire
Nov 4, 2022
“I just did what any good-hearted person would do.”
That was what groundskeeper Bobby Fahey had to say after he and his fellow Xavier Physical Plant employees helped save two women and their pet chihuahua from a burning Norwood home on Tuesday.
The fire began shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday at a home near the intersection of Hopkins Ave. and Webster Ave. Fahey and others happened to be nearby blowing leaves on Xavier grounds when he heard calls for help.
He soon realized the situation was potentially grave and required an immediate response. 
“I knew I was capable and that we needed to act quickly,” Fahey said. “I’m just glad we were there and could help.”
Fahey said he and his coworkers, including fellow groundskeeper Rob Cain Jr., hurried to help a woman, her elderly mother and their dog get out of the house as the inferno intensified. After first spotting the woman trying to escape through the house’s side door, he then found her mother on the front porch. Recognizing there was no time to waste, Fahey quickly carried the elderly woman down the steps, he said.
Soon after, he heard the sounds of what he likened to a warzone. It turned out that the fire was initially caused by an oxygen tank that exploded, and the subsequent blasts resulted from more tanks erupting as he helped the women clear the area.
In an interview with WCPO-ABC, Norwood Fire Chief Tom McCabe said that there was “no way anyone could have survived had they been in the building."
Other than having his arm being slightly singed, Fahey came away from the incident unharmed and with admiration from not only the victims, but also neighbors and colleagues.
Larry Prues, Xavier’s associate director of maintenance and operations, was in the middle of a budget meeting at the Physical Plant offices, about a mile away from where the fire occurred. What was a mundane moment soon shifted to one of astonishment when he received a call about what had just transpired.
In the aftermath, Prues said Fahey’s actions modeled the kind of values that represent the Xavier community, albeit in an extraordinary way.
“When you talk about service for others, you can’t ask for much more,” Prues said. “Bobby would have you think that anyone would have done the same, but it takes a very selfless type of person to do something like that.”
Though Fahey said he is no fan of the limelight, he graciously agreed to several interviews with local media members recounting Tuesday’s harrowing experience: