Houston County honors Warner Robins High School Senior Resource Officer and firefighters who aided Brantley County 

WARNER ROBINS — Public safety in Houston County goes well beyond the badge, especially for the individuals recognized at the latest Commissioners meeting. 

Houston County Sheriff’s Office Senior Resource Officer Deputy Cody Nelson was recognized for his heroics during the shooting that took place at Warner Robins High School last week. Sheriff Matt Moulton said at the meeting that Nelson immediately recognized the situation as a threat. 

“[Nelson] saw a blood trail, followed it, found a student, quickly assessed the injuries of the student and rendered aid,” Moulton said. “He saved the student’s life.” 

Moulton wasn’t the only one to say that. The surgeon who operated on the student agreed. The surgeon told Moulton the victim would have died on the way to the hospital if Nelson hadn’t done what he did. 

There was another instance of Nelson’s heroism at Warner Robins High School Moulton mentioned. A female student battling mental health issues was barricaded in her room and refused to talk to anyone, except Nelson. Moulton said Nelson was off-duty and dropped everything to talk to the girl. 

Shortly after talking with her, he escorted her to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. 

“This is the kind of person we have working for the Sheriff’s Office, and this is the guy we have protecting our children in our schools,” he said. 

Firefighters, like law enforcement, always answer the call when needed, even when it’s not in our backyard. A few months ago, the Houston County Fire Department volunteered to aid in the Brantley County Fire. 

Fire Chief Chris Stoner said at the meeting their deployment was a voluntary mission and said the crew didn’t know where they would eat or sleep when down there. The crews mainly deployed to Brantley County. Stoner said the wildfire reached under 23,000 acres by the time it was fully contained. Over 100 homes were destroyed. Stoner said the crew protected other structures from the blaze. 

“There were over 350 homes threatened by fire that did not burn because of the actions of our staff and other departments that deployed personnel down there,” he said. 

The crews also provided water to the fire lines for those fighting the fire head on. Stoner said the firemen worked 13 to 14 hour days and some even took an overnight shift to fight the wildfire. 

“There were very tedious conditions and the county was under a severe drought as well,” he said. “I’m very thankful and blessed we have a tremendous staff of firefighters here in Houston County that are willing to help somebody else in the state in need.” 

Firefighters recognized: 

John Tolbert. Micah Story, Tyler Rogers, Aaron Rice, Evan Perry, Lt. Cody Parker, Clint Mixon, Steven McDuffie, Lt. Kendall Marzoll, Capt. Christopher Burton, Robert Marcy, Andrew Allison and Chief Chris Stoner. 

Not pictured: Tyler Rogers, Lt. Cody Parker, Steven McDuffie and Lt. Kendall Marzoll.