Slatington's monthly borough council meeting was standing- room only Monday night when responders were honored for their work during a three-alarm dwelling fire April 7 in the borough.

Mayor Walter Niedermeyer presented a proclamation honoring Police Sgt. Deron Dorward and Lehigh County's 911 Center Dispatchers Kelly Kindt, Patrick Kitchen, Daniel Kuhns and Operations Director Laurie Bailey.At 12:30 p.m. on a Friday, the crew at Lehigh County 911 received a barrage of calls about a house fire at 451-453 S. Walnut St. in the borough."There were probably like 10 of us there that day," Kitchen said."Everyone was in hysterics yelling on the phone," he said."It was a frenzy of calls until someone was on the scene," Bailey said.Borough Fire Chief Jason Nicholas said the police were the first on the scene for the dwelling fire with entrapment."The fire's cause was undetermined but nonsuspicious," Nicholas said.The entrapment call was a 14-year-old male who had run back into the burning house to try to rescue his dogs."He was trapped on the second floor roof. He was going to go back in the window till Deron got him to jump," Nicholas said."He literally caught the kid," he said.Walnutport Police officer Dean Heffelfinger was working on the scene with Dorward."He saw the kid was on the roof then Deron opened the door and saw the room was fully engulfed so he came out and told the kid, 'You're going to have to jump. You can't go in the house,' " Heffelfinger said."Once the kid was secure the police helped through hoses and ladders," Nicholas said."Deron always goes above and beyond, they all do. We have a great relationship with the police department," he said.The proclamation read by the mayor was awarded to Dorward for going "above and beyond as sergeant of the Slatington Borough Police Department."Dorward said he was surprised by the awards he received both from the borough and Slatington Police Chief David Rachman."I got a goose egg from an elbow to the forehead," Dorward said."I was able to break his fall. I just said, 'You got to jump,'" Dorward said."The house was engulfed within three minutes. But I was able to save one of the dogs. He was in a cage and I was able to pull the cage out," he said.Dorward has been working on the borough force for 14 years."It's just something we do everyday. It's our job," Dorward said.