DATE: Thursday, November 13, 1997           TAG: 9711130519

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   91 lines

NORFOLK RESIDENTS HONORED FOR SAVING LIFE

Howard Hiser saw the crash on Terminal Boulevard and ran to a phone for help. Randy Carlson saw the wreckage and heard the screams. Hugh Ford and Mary Lib DeLong also stopped their cars and aided in the rescue.

Together, the four Norfolk residents helped save the life of a North Carolina man who was severely hurt in a fiery car crash last summer.

For their efforts, the Norfolk Police Department on Wednesday awarded each with Citizen Service Medals. Police Chief Melvin C. High called their actions heroic.

But the four rescuers said it was a matter of doing what any good citizen should do.

``I did what I thought was right,'' said Hiser, 30. ``For me it's not an option. That's the way I was raised.''

Two North Carolina men were killed after the Camaro they were in slammed into an oncoming car and burst into flames near Terminal Boulevard and Ruthven Road about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 17.

Todd Adrian Tysinger, 30, of Kannapolis, N.C., and Robert Shawn Fulghum, 30, of Concord, N.C., died at the scene. Fulghum's brother, John H. Fulghum, 19, was pulled through the rear window of the burning car and survived.

The driver of the second car, a Ford Escort, was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and was later released.

According to police, Hiser witnessed the accident and went to a nearby phone to call for help. Ford was driving behind the Escort and immediately stopped to help. Carlson and DeLong then pulled over.

Carlson, an attorney, said he was driving to his Larchmont home from Virginia Beach when he saw the cars stopped on Terminal Boulevard. It was seconds after the crash. When he pulled closer, he heard a man yelling.

``I ran toward him,'' Carlson said. ``He was screaming (from) a combination of pain and probably a combination of fear.''

Inside the Camaro were the three men, entangled in twisted metal. Two were unconscious. The other moaned, his voice barely audible. Carlson tried to pull them free.

``My first thought was, `You shouldn't move somebody,' but on the other hand, this car was on fire, so I didn't think that was a real option.'' he said.

Other drivers stopped to help while the fire crept closer to the passenger compartment.

``I just kept thinking about their mom and dad,'' Carlson said. ``Even if they're dead, to get them out.''

He said he took off his T-shirt to try to extinguish the flames, but it didn't help.

``In my heart of hearts I felt they were dead,'' Carlson said. ``But the back-seat guy, I knew he was alive.''

The four rescuers got two men out but were not able to free the last man as the fire overtook the car.

``I just couldn't budge him,'' Carlson said. ``I had to just walk away and stand there helplessly.''

While waiting for rescue units to arrive, DeLong administered CPR to one of the men who had been removed from the vehicle.

At Tuesday's ceremony, where the residents received medals and plaques, High said: ``You epitomize good citizenship. We do appreciate the tremendous sacrifice you made there.''

Wednesday was the first time the four honorees had been together since the rescue, Carlson said.

``I don't think we're deserving, but I appreciate it,'' said DeLong, 30, a health and physical education teacher at Booker T. Washington High School.

Ford, 20, said he wished the other men had survived. He pulled over instinctively to help, he said.

``When I saw (the crash) my heart just started pounding and I stopped,'' said Ford, a Navy man stationed aboard the amphibious assault ship Nassau.

Hiser, who repairs aircraft radar and radio equipment at Norfolk Naval Air Station, said he just did what he hoped someone would do for him and his family.

``I was kind of speechless about it,'' Hiser said. ``I saw somebody that needed help.''

John Fulghum, a sophomore majoring in accounting at East Carolina University at the time of the crash, remains in a coma at Charlotte Rehabilitation Center in North Carolina.

His younger sister, 17-year-old Margaret Fulghum, said his condition is improving, however. He's breathing on his own and is more responsive, she said.

``After looking at the wreck, it's a miracle we have John at all,'' she said from their home in Concord. ``And it's thanks to those guys. That's the reason we have any hope for John. We are eternally grateful.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Howard Hiser, left, with his 3-year-old daughter, Christina, Randy

Carlson, Mary Lib DeLong and Hugh Ford were honored Wednesday for

rescuing a North Carolina man who was severely injured in an August

car crash in Norfolk. ``We are eternally grateful,'' said a sister

of the man, who still is in a coma. KEYWORDS: HERO RESCUE <

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