Call them heroes or call them angels. A man who lives in the Carter community is alive today because of them. He could have bled to death or died choking on his own blood after a modified circular saw sliced through his neck below his chin, cutting him from ear to ear. A team of Angel Heroes saved him.
It happened early on a Saturday morning – August 29th – in the backyard at a home just off Strawberry Plains Pike. The victim apparently was reaching up with the saw, trying to trim some tree limbs, when the saw somehow fell and came down on his neck. His son ran to him and immediately began putting pressure on the wound with a towel to stanch the massive bleeding.
Someone called 911. That call led to a 7:30 a.m. alarm at Rural Metro Fire’s Station 26 at 8708 Strawberry Plains Pike – approximately 1.3 miles from the man’s home. On duty were Capt. Logan Blaylock and Firefighter Noah Wilson. Blaylock is an EMT-Advanced and Wilson is an EMT. Within minutes, they were helping the son save his father.
“The call first came in as a ‘hemorrhage’ and while we were on the way the computer on the engine updated us with ‘trauma with lacerations’ but we never expected to see what we saw,” Blaylock said. “He was on his back in the grass, still conscious, and moving his legs. I was telling him what we were doing. He could not talk, but for a few minutes he followed what we were doing with his eyes and he could hear us. But that soon stopped as he lost more blood and lost consciousness.”
Wilson took over the job of trying to stop the bleeding from the son. “If his son had not gotten that towel and kept the pressure on for as long as he did he would not
have made it,” Wilson said. “And I mean there was blood everywhere. And this was a really deep cut from ear to ear. Somehow the saw missed his windpipe and trachea and may have nipped an artery. God was watching out for this gentleman.”
Blaylock is a 20-year veteran with Rural Metro and he’s seen a lot, but not like this wound. “Noah’s right about the son — if he had not done what he did nobody could have saved him. We changed the dressing once and continued to apply pressure. But we thought we might lose him. I still don’t how he survived it.”
He added this: “… The bleeding was really impacting his airway. He was essentially drinking and breathing his own blood and we were surprised he didn’t choke to death.”
As Wilson continued to stop the bleeding, Blaylock was assisting and knew an AMR Ambulance crew was headed their way. “We did a quick face-to-face patient transfer once they arrived. It was a load-and-go situation,” Blaylock said. Getting him to the hospital as quickly as possible was paramount. Wilson accompanied the man in the ambulance to help on the way to the University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) emergency room and its Trauma Team.
The man underwent surgery and was at UTMC for about a week. He’s been recovering at home since, undergoing speech and physical therapy.
Last Thursday morning this week’s Our Town Heroes – Blaylock and Wilson — were honored by both the UTMC Trauma Center with “Excellence in Prehospital Trauma” awards. Rural Metro Fire also recognized them with the same award “for their outstanding, life-saving efforts in saving this gentleman.”
Blaylock is the captain at Station 28 off Gov. John Sevier Highway and happened to be working at Station 26 that day. He’s second-generation Rural Metro. His father, Gene, worked at the fire agency for 42 years and retired in 2019 as its Operations Chief. His mother Debra was a parttime reserve firefighter for a few years. He is a South Doyle High School graduate in 2006. He and his wife, Whitney, who teaches at Prospect Elementary in Blount County, have two sons.
Wilson, 28, has only been with Rural Metro since February 2025. He’s a native of Rockford and first-responder work is also in his blood. His father, Lt. Will Wilson, is an officer at the Knoxville Police Dept. working in the Office of Professional Standards and he was presented with a life-saving award several years ago. Before joining Rural Metro, Wilson worked as a Wildland Firefighter for eight years around the country.
“We had just finished shift change when the alarm came in,” he says about that August 29 morning and call. “It did take me by surprise when I ran up and saw the extent of the injury to his throat. I held his head up slightly and kept working to get the bleeding stopped, probably for about 30 minutes before the ambulance took over. I’ve seen a few nastier injuries than this, but it took me a second or two to realize what we had. It did shock me.”
In the ambulance, Wilson helped AMR Paramedic Byron Banks as he worked on the patient. “He started an IV, gave him some meds to help with pain and finally the man’s vitals stabilized. He was in and out of consciousness. The ER was waiting for us and I was able to watch the UT trauma team work. They worked together so efficiently and so smoothly. Very calm. So impressive.”
Blaylock and Wilson were praised in a letter from Melinda Wilson and Amber Thompson, coordinators of the UTMC Trauma Outreach & Injury Prevention team. “Your team cared for a critically ill patient requiring immediate hemorrhage control and time-sensitive decisions regarding transport destination. Your effective bleeding control, sound clinical judgment and appropriate destination selection were instrumental in ensuring the patient reached definitive trauma care and contributed to a positive patient outcome. This certificate recognizes your skill, decisive action, and commitment to exceptional trauma care.”
High praise for both Rural Metro first-responder Our Town Heroes – Blaylock and Wilson.
Tom King is a weekly contributor to KnoxTNToday, where he writes the column Our Town Hero, honoring the service of our first responders. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email Tom using the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.
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