January 2025, Vol. 252, No. 1
Features
Otto McMillan: Once, Twice, Three Times a Hero
By Lee J. Freedman
(P&GJ) — The Charlotte-based Piedmont Natural Gas utility field representative is a serial hero, having performed three life-changing heroic acts in 2023.
Otto McMillan doesn’t appear to wear a cape. And that’s a good thing, because it would pose a safety hazard in his role supervising third-party construction crews for Piedmont Natural Gas.
Also, a cape would have likely slowed McMillan’s response in each of the three instances in which he swooped in to help strangers in peril in 2023.
Heroic act No. 1: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Earlier this year, McMillan was in Mint Hill, North Carolina, supervising the construction of a natural gas main line and ensuring the work was being done to plan and in a safe manner.
McMillan was also continually scanning his surroundings. Maintaining situational awareness is a skill he picked up during his time in the U.S. Army. And it’s something McMillan has perfected over his nearly three decades working for Piedmont Natural Gas.
Everything was copacetic that morning. That is, until something caught McMillan’s eye.
“I noticed a bunch of smoke coming from a house down the street,” recalled McMillan, who said seeing the smoke on an unseasonably warm day just didn’t sit right with him. He asked a member of the construction crew to come with him to investigate.
The two men walked to the home and then to the rear of the house to see if there was a wood barrel or pit in use in the backyard. There wasn’t. McMillan turned toward the back of the house and his eyes immediately shot upward … to smoke billowing from the roof.
The situation evoked a painful childhood memory for McMillan: two young cousins dying in a fire that destroyed his family’s home. He knew at that moment he had to do everything he could to save this house, and whomever may be inside.
He ran to the back door and started pounding on it. He told the construction contractor he was with to go to the front door and do the same — and to call 911.
Just then, a young girl, maybe seven or eight years old, opened the back door. McMillan asked if anyone else was at home. The girl said her mother and sister were there. McMillan told the girl about the smoke coming from the roof and how she and her family needed to get out of the house immediately.
McMillan then noticed an electrical panel with a shutoff lever near where he was standing. He immediately turned off the electricity to the home and went to the front yard, to make sure the family was out and a safe distance from the house.
It was then that a handyman appeared. He’d been doing work on the home and started setting up a ladder so he could climb on the roof and investigate the fire. McMillan told him to stop. When he wouldn’t, McMillan knocked down the ladder and told the handyman to walk away.
By that time, everyone heard sirens approaching. The fire department arrived and put out the fire. A fire investigator later said the fire was tied to a faulty electrical connection, made when the handyman installed an exhaust fan in a bathroom.
“The fire battalion commander said that had we not killed that power, this house could have burned down,” according to McMillan, who also said the fire only damaged a portion of the roof and a bathroom ceiling.
“It made me feel really good that this family did not lose their home,” said McMillan. “It made me feel really good because my team, everybody that was out there, eventually helped with crowd control and getting the fire trucks in there. It was real good feeling, man, that these people did not lose their home.”
Heroic act No. 2: It happened on the way to work
Months later, McMillan was piloting his Piedmont Natural Gas truck to a morning meeting at the company’s operations center on Yancey Road in Charlotte.
He was heading south-southeast on Clanton Road, following a minivan at a safe distance. Suddenly, a black Kia Forte coming from the opposite direction attempted a left turn — across McMillan’s Lane — onto a side street. The driver of the Kia apparently didn’t see the minivan approaching.
McMillan had a front-row seat to the Kia and minivan colliding. The impact was so intense, the Kia ended up airborne. It landed on its roof.
“I immediately put my lights on, stopped all traffic and ran over to the car,” said McMillan. “The lady in the car — her momentum was pulling her out. She was trying to crawl out [of] the car.”
McMillan said only in rare instances should a person attempt to move a victim of a car crash, as doing so could do more harm than good. He said he wanted to wait until paramedics arrived, but the woman was crawling out anyway. So McMillan assisted her and called 911 while he walked the woman to the side of the road.
“I chatted with the woman,” recalls McMillan. “She was crying. I told her everything is OK. And I asked her if there was anyone else in the car.”
The woman, fighting through tears, said she was driving alone. McMillan examined the inside of the Forte just to be sure, and then checked on the minivan driver. He had exited his vehicle on his own and didn’t appear injured.
McMillan returned to the side of the road to check on the woman. She was still crying and obviously shaken.
“I told her she’s going to be fine,” said McMillan. “I said, ‘You’re talking, you’re walking, you’re going to be fine. It’s a car. That’s material. We can buy another one.’ I keep saying ‘we’ because when you put yourself in that position, then they usually start feeling a little bit better.”
McMillan knew first responders were still likely minutes away. So, he walked into the street and started directing traffic. He wanted to prevent additional accidents and ensure the coming ambulances, fire trucks and police cars weren’t delayed by backed-up vehicles.
Emergency personnel soon arrived and examined both drivers. Paramedics took the woman to the hospital for further examination.
McMillan continued directing traffic, until a police officer took his witness statement. He then climbed back into his truck and proceeded to the office.
It’s safe to say that McMillan’s supervisor and teammates were not surprised to learn of his heroics, when he arrived a few minutes late to the team meeting that morning.
Heroic act No. 3: Pulling a heroic trifecta in 2023
In late October, some of McMillan’s co-workers chuckled, shook their heads slowly and said, “Of course, he did!” when they learned about his third heroic act of the year.
McMillan’s response came right after another car crash that unfolded before his eyes. He had just departed the Yancey Road operations center, driving east on Scaleybark Road.
“A car was in front of me at the red light,” said McMillan. "The light turned green and he went. The very next intersection, another car just ran the stop sign or shot out from the stop sign. The car in front of me just [got] T-boned.
“I just couldn’t believe it. I’m like, right in front of me today, [it] T-boned the car!”
McMillan immediately called Trevis Smith, a Piedmont Natural Gas co-worker who had departed the operations center in tandem with McMillan just minutes before. He told Smith to come to his location to help. McMillan then called 911.
Then, he walked over to the other vehicle and could see the driver, surrounded by deployed airbags, just shaking his head. McMillan opened the passenger-side door and talked to the driver, who appeared shaken up but OK.
By that point, Smith was at the scene directing traffic. Emergency personnel arrived shortly thereafter and immediately went to work getting the driver of the white Camry unpinned and out of the car. Paramedics ended up transporting him to the hospital. McMillan and Smith soon departed the scene and went on with their days.
Reflecting
When asked to reflect on the significance of performing three heroic acts in one year, McMillan downplayed his actions. In each case, he said, he was just in the right place at the right time. McMillan then revealed that he’s stepped in to help strangers more times than he can remember while working for Piedmont Natural Gas.
“I’ve been here 28, 29 years,” reflected McMillan. “Probably 28, 29 times something has happened. I know for sure I’ve seen four fires, numerous wrecks and different types of events.
“I cannot turn a blind eye.”
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