Firehouse Magazine Rescue Award Winners for 2001
These winners were recognized in the April, 2002 Issue of Firehouse Magazine.
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Directories for 2001 Winners: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 4 | Page 5
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| Joseph Crandall | Detroit, MI FD | Patricia Ayers | Prince George's County, MD FD | Timothy Dambach | Detroit, MI FD |
| Michael Gallo | Detroit, MI FD | Jennifer Westfall | Prince George's County, MD FD | Bryan Elrod | Richmond, VA FD |
| Patrick Buckler | Prince George's County, MD FD | Barry Contee | Prince George's County, MD FD | Paul Flaherty | Boston, MA FD |
| Jeffery Chandler | Prince George's County, MD FD | Jeffery Cordle | Columbus, OH FD | Ross Franklin | Detroit, MI FD |
| Keith Downing | Prince George's County, MD FD | Kevin Dooley | St. Petersburg, FL FD | Dennis Sy | San Francisco FD |
| Marshall Milam | Prince George's County, MD FD | Henry Jones | St. Petersburg, FL FD |
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Joseph Crandall Engine 52 $100 Award |
Michael Gallo Engine 52 $100 Award |
| Detroit, MI FD |
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On December 23, 2000, while checking
hydrants, Engine 52 was dispatched to a fully involved apartment fire at 15511
Mack Avenue. Being so close, Engine 52 was the first company to arrive on
the scene.
Upon arrival, Trial Firefighter Joseph Crandall and Lieutenant Michael Gallo noticed a woman and an infant trapped on the second floor. They climbed a twenty foot ground ladder to their window. Crandall crawled into the smoke filled room and handed the woman and child out to Gallo, who brought them to the street. Lieutenant Gallo then went to the rear of the building, where he found an occupant trapped in a hallway. Gallo led him to safety. Gallo then returned to the front of the building, where he rescued a second civilian by leading him down a hall and stairway to safety. |
Crandall and Gallo then stretched a line to the apartments involved in fire. They accomplished all these actions before additional manpower arrived. They continued with fire suppression until the blaze was extinguished. Acting alone, in dense smoke, heat, and extreme weather conditions, with total disregard for their own safety, Firefighter Crandall and Lieutenant Gallo successfully rescued four civilians.
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Patrick N. Buckler $100 Award |
Jeffery P. Chandler $100 Award |
Keith L. Downing $100 Award |
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No Photo |
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Marshall D. Milam $100 Award |
Patricia Ayers Honorable Mention |
Honorable Mention |
Station 29, Prince George's County Fire /Rescue Largo, MD |
| Lieutenant
Patrick N. Buckler and the crew of Station 29 responded to a house fire in
Temple Hills. They encountered a one-story, single family dwelling with
heavy smoke showing. The fire was coming from the basement. Buckler
approached an elderly man, bleeding severely from lacerations, attempting
to enter the front door. He was yelling that there was a child trapped
inside. Buckler led his crew into the house, getting the last known
location of the child from the elderly gentlemen. He directed a fellow
firefighter to attack the fire with a hose line while he searched for the child, heading
toward the bedrooms on the right. Searching aggressively, he found a
15-year old youth between the hallway and living room area. He carried the
youth out of the dwelling, and once outside, he assisted other personnel
in providing emergency care to three other severely injured victims.
At the same fire, Firefighter Jeffrey Chandler and Marshall D. Milam saw an elderly woman leaving the window at the rear of the home. He assisted the woman, brought her to safety and provided emergency care. In addition, he assisted with the care of the other two victims. At the same time Firefighter Keith L. Downing forced the rear door open and entered the burning structure, Downing attacked the fire with a hose line while a fellow firefighter searched for victims. |
He
reached the kitchen and extinguished the fire there. He then entered the
basement and extinguished the remainder of the fire. After all of the
victims had been rescued, Downing assisted other Fire/EMS personnel in
providing emergency care.
Paramedics Patricia L. Ayres and Jennifer L. Westfall were members of the Medic 29 crew that responded to a the fire. On arrival, they encountered three severely injured patients who were suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. In addition, one of the patients was bleeding profusely from lacerations to his extremities. Ayers and Westfall quickly triaged the three patients, recognizing that the young male victim was in respiratory arrest. They immediately treated the youth and transported him to Malcolm Grow Hospital for more advanced care. The patient was later taken by helicopter to Children's Hospital. Although the patients had to be hospitalized for a while, all three were eventually released in good condition
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On June 14, 2001, Paramedic Captain Barry Contee responded to the inner loop of Interstate 95 for an accident involving a street sweeper that had collided with a tractor-trailer. He found an overturned tractor trailer that was blocking the shoulder and two right lanes of the highway. It displayed a placard warning "Hazardous Materials." The driver was trapped in its cab. Other drivers were trying to go around the accident scene, while pedestrian traffic was rapidly increasing. Contee walked toward the badly damaged cab to evaluate the patient and to clear the area of bystanders. The guardrail had penetrated the trailer and diesel fuel was leaking from its saddle tanks. Contee assisted in moving the driver from the truck's cab and getting him to a safe area. He also worked feverishly to limit pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the scene. Contacting Public Safety Communications, he informed them about the accident scene and the involvement of hazardous materials. The empty steel containers on the truck had been filled with chromic acid, which if mixed with petroleum products can lead to spontaneous combustion. One of the containers had been ripped open by the guardrail and a small amount of product residue was released. Captain Contee obtained the bill of lading sheets from the truck and gave them to the first arriving fire officer. Meanwhile, he continued to care for the victim until emergency medical units arrived. |
Barry Contee Prince George's County Fire/Rescue Largo, MD $100 Award |
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In the early morning hours of January 13, 2001, Columbus Firefighter Jeff Cordle, on Engine 2, pulled up to the scene of a working fire at 506 W. Walnut. While advancing an attack tine through the front door, the crew of Engine 2 learned from a frantic mother that her child was still upstairs. While crew members waited for water, Firefighter Cordle started a primary search in zero visibility and intense heat, without the aid of an attack line. The child was later found unharmed with her father. |
Jeffrey D. Cordle Columbus OH FD Engine 2 $100 Award |
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Kevin Dooley Rescue 8 $100 Award |
Henry Jones Rescue 8 $100 Award |
| St. Petersburg, FL Fire & Rescue |
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On the morning of September 18, 2001, Firefighter/Paramedics Kevin Dooley and Henry Jones of Rescue 8 were only two hours into the beginning of their 24-hour shift when they witnessed a vehicle accident. As they sat across from Lake Maggiore in their rescue truck waiting for traffic to clear. Jones saw a passenger vehicle drive into the lake. Dooley turned just in time to see the large splash of water created by the vehicle as it flipped over and entered the edge of the 5-foot deep freshwater lake, well know for its various forms of wildlife, including large populations of alligators and cottonmouth snakes. They could see only the tires of the vehicle above the water line. They realized that the driver of the vehicle had not escaped. The City of St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue Department has a water rescue and dive unit nearby at fire station 11. Dooley and Jones knew, however, that this unit would not be able to respond in time to rescue the driver.
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They quickly stripped their uniform shoes and entered the water to search and remove the victim. The upside-down vehicle was almost completely submerged. As Dooley worked to find the victim, Jones kept a watchful eye on a nearby alligator swimming near the vehicle. Dooley opened the driver's door, but could only see the victim’s legs. As he pulled on the legs, the victim became entangled between the car seats. Jones now pitched in, and the two rescuers got the victim's head briefly above the water. On their next attempt to free the victim they were successful. They carried the 17 year-old boy from the chest-deep water to the shoreline. He was not breathing, but once on land he coughed and revived. |
| No Photo | On July
7, 2001 Engine Company 58 was dispatched to a Box Alarm of fire at 15256
Saratoga. Engine 58 arrived at the scene and found that a bedroom was
totally engulfed in flame.
Engine 58 was told that a baby was in a bedroom. Firefighter Dambach, on his own initiative, with no regard for his own personal safety, entered the smoke and heat filled dwelling without the protection of a hand line. He crawled through the intense heat, smoke and flame that were consuming the bedroom, found and rescued a four-year-old child who was hiding in a bedroom closet. The child suffered only smoke inhalation, but surely would have died a horrible death if not for the efforts of Firefighter Timothy Dambach. |
Detroit, MI FD Engine 58 $100 Award |
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On July 12, 2001, Rescue Company 1 went to the James River for some scheduled training. It quickly turned into an actual incident when two young girls, ages 9 and 10, were swept over the drop at Hollywood Rapids. Neither child wore a life preserver, and both were in distress. Members of Rescue 1 had just stepped off of the truck when they heard the screams of the girls and onlookers. Firefighter Bryan Elrod entered the water at once, realizing that there would be no time to don the usual rescue gear. The youngest girl had already gone under and was in immediate danger of drowning. Without regard for his own safety, Elrod swam to the drowning child. In the swift current he was thrown against several rocks, but he reached the girl before she disappeared under water. Although he had no flotation device himself, Elrod was able to hold the terrified girl above the currents and stabilize her. He clung to a rock with the victim until the other members of Rescue 1 set up a rope system to get both victims back to shore. The other victim had made her way to a rock by herself, but was very scared. After Firefighter Elrod assisted in getting the first victim safely to shore, he swam to the other rock and assisted with her removal as well. |
Brian P. Elrod Richmond, VA FD Rescue 1 $100 Award |
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While off
duty and driving home after a night tour on May 13, 2001, Firefighter Paul
F. Flaherty, Engine Company 18, observed a building fire in the town of
Randolph. Heavy fire and smoke were showing with fire overlapping the
front porch and entryway. Fearing that people were trapped inside, he
entered the building and removed an elderly woman to the safety of the
street. He re-entered the building and assisted with the rescue of another
elderly woman.
These actions were performed at great personal risk, without the benefit of protective clothing or a charged line, and prior to adequate ventilation of the structure.
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Paul F. Flaherty Boston, MA FD Engine 18
$100 Award |
| No Photo | On
January 6, 2001, Tactical Mobile Squad 2 was summoned to an apartment fire
at 71 W. Willis, located in the central downtown section of Detroit. Upon
arrival, Firefighters were told that occupants were trapped in one of the
fourth floor rear apartments.
Realizing the immediate threat to the lives of the trapped occupants, Firefighter Ross Franklin placed a ground ladder to the fourth floor, climbed it, and entered the burning structure through a window. Franklin searched through dense smoke and intense heat and found an unconscious man, whom he carried out of the house to safety. His bravery and quick thinking saved the man’s life.
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Detroit, MI FD Squad 2 $100 Award |
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Engine
16's crew entered a burning structure. They were ordered to take a
hose line to the second floor. Unknown to them, the fire was below
them in the basement. As Lt. Griffey climbed the stairs in the smoke
filled area she fell through the stairs. Her feet and legs went
through the burned out stairs and dangled above the fire.
Firefighter Dennis Sy, just behind her, heard her screams and groped for
her in the smoke. Locating her, he grabbed her turnouts and
attempted to pull her from the hole. After an intense effort, and
assisted by Firefighter Wong, he succeeded in pulling the Lieutenant from
the hole. Sy and Wong then assisted her to leave the building.
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San Francisco, CA FD Engine 16 $100 Award |
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| 2000 Directory of Winners | 2001 Directory of Winners