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 3 | Page 5
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| Steven Hobbs | Columbus, OH FD | Dan Hughes | Berea, OH FD | Joseph Orzech | Detroit, MI FD |
| Jim Hudson | Florence, SC FD | Greg Lobas | Berea, OH FD | John Carter | Hillsborough County, FL FD |
| Perry Owen | Florence, SC FD | Russ Kellar | Austin, TX FD | Brandon Wade |
Austin, TX FD |
| Timothy Judd | Branford, CT FD | Matt Rush |
Austin, TX FD
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Robert Finn | Boston, MA FD |
| Timothy Murray | Branford, CT FD | Edward Schmidt | FDNY | John Fitzpatrick | Boston, MA FD |
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On October 22, 2000 off-duty Firefighter Steven G. Hobbs attempted to rescue a neighbor’s child from the their burning house. Hobbs had no protective clothing or breathing apparatus. No fire units were on scene. The burning structure was heavily involved in smoke and flames on the second floor. Hobbs entered the house and climbed the stairs to the second floor, where he thought the child was trapped. Driven back by the smoke, he retreated to the first floor, gathered himself, and made another attempt to get to the second floor and reach the child. Failing again, he left the house and entered from an exterior window, but again was unable to reach the second floor bedroom. By this time fire crews entered the house and rescued the infant. Hobbs assisted with patient care all the way to Children’s Hospital. |
Steven Hobbs Columbus OH FD Engine 23 $100 Award |
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Jim Hudson $100 Award |
Perry Owen $100 Award |
| Station 1, Florence, SC FD |
| The Florence Fire Department responded on November 2, 2001 to a structure fire on Clyde Court involving 28 apartments. While being dispatched crews learned that occupants were still in their apartments. Jim Hudson and Perry Owen were detailed to extricate the trapped occupants while other department members operated hose lines and ventilated the fully involved structure. Fire was spreading through the entire attic area above the 28 apartments. | Forcing
entry into a fifth floor apartment, Hudson and Owen acted performed a primary search and found two sleeping occupants. The
apartment was quickly filling with smoke and heated gases from heavy fire
in the attic. The firefighters awakened the occupants and guided them
outside to safety. Both survived with no injuries
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Timothy Judd $100 Award |
Timothy Murray $100 Award |
| Branford, CT FD |
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In the early hours of September 20,
2001 the Branford Communications center received a frantic call from an off
duty communicator reporting a structure fire at 29 Matthew Road with a
trapped resident, her aunt.
Firefighter/Paramedic Tim Judd, off duty at the time, and Volunteer Lieutenant Tim Murray responded from approximately one block away, arriving prior to the on-duty career shift. Heavy fire was showing from the structure's street side and was flowing down an interior hallway into the kitchen. Confirming from bystanders that the woman was inside the building, Judd and Murray forced a door off of the deck on the left side and entered the home. They immediately struck heavy smoke and heat.
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Both
firefighters, without the benefit of any personal protective equipment or
breathing apparatus, searched and found the unconscious woman in the
kitchen and carried her to the outside. She had severe burns on her body
and lacked a pulse. A newly arrived fire crew with advanced life support
capabilities performed CPR, and the woman was transported to Yale New
Haven Hospital and then transferred to Bridgeport Hospital for her burns
and smoke inhalation. She made a full recovery.
Firefighter Judd was also transported to Yale New Haven Hospital for smoke inhalation. After treatment he was released later the same day.
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Dan Hughes $100 Award |
Greg Lobas $100 Award |
| B Platoon, Berea, OH FD |
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Berea Fire units were called by police
who reported a barricaded woman threatening murder and suicide. She was the mother of two children who were in the home with her. She
had filled the home with natural gas and was threatening to ignite it. Berea
Fire Captain Greg Lobas deployed his crew for rescue in the event of an
explosion. Lobas and Firefighter Dan Hughes then walked to the home’s rear
where the woman had last been seen holding a box of matches. The police were
trying unsuccessfully to talk the her into submission.
It was apparent that she was not going to cooperate. Lobas and Hughes donned SCBA, approached the locked back door, and kicked it in to gain access and rescue the children. The woman raced toward her matches in the |
kitchen as the two firefighters came through the door. Hughes pursued the fleeing woman, tackling her just as she put a match to the gas stove. Hughes was enveloped in a fireball but the overly rich mixture in the home did not ignite, though the stove continued to burn. Lobas helped Hughes to subdue the woman. Other firefighters removed the unharmed children, extinguished the fire, and closed all of the gas valves. |
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Russ Kellar $100 Award |
Matt Rush $100 Award |
| Engine 50, Austin, TX FD |
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A
water rescue alarm was dispatched on November 15°' 2001 to flooding Shoal
Creek. The first unit on the scene observed a sport utility vehicle floating
down stream with three people inside. It came to rest on a utility pole.
Boat One (a center console controlled inflatable raft) was launched to gain
access to the victims. Lt. Russ Kellar operated the boat and Specialist Matt
Rush positioned himself to rescue the victims. They maneuvered the boat to
the SUV and rescued its occupants, returning them to shore. The two
firefighters now spotted another victim sitting on the roof of his truck further up
stream. As they made their way toward this man, Rush spotted a green light
in the middle of the stream. It was a fifth barely floating victim holding
her cell phone in the air.
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They powered over to her, and as Lieutenant Kellar maneuvered the boat Firefighter Rush grabbed her. The current pulled the victim under the boat and jerked Rush halfway out of the boat and under the water. Kellar quickly maneuvered the boat to flush Rush and the victim from under the boat. Rush now muscled her into the boat and they returned to shore to get her medical attention. The firefighters discovered why she had been so difficult to rescue -- She had a thirty pound book bag strapped to her back. The two firefighters then returned to the last victim and removed him to safety. |
| No Photo |
Ladder 41 responded to an alarm for a fire in an apartment on the second floor of three story building. Arrival of Engine 45, assigned first due, was delayed. Upon arrival Lieutenant Hurley transmitted a second alarm. Heavy smoke was pushing through the building. Bystanders reported that the fire was in the basement. The Ladder 41 crew checked for fire in the basement, with negative results. Firefighters Schmidt and Watson and Lieutenant Hurley forced the door to Apartment 1 on the first floor and found it to be charged with high heat. Immediately behind the apartment entrance door was a washing machine that prevented the door from being opened for entry. After repeated strenuous attempts, Schmidt moved this obstruction and entered the apartment. After transmitting the fire’s location Lieutenant Hurley’s forcible entry team began a primary search of the fire apartment before the Engine 45 crew had its hose line in position. The Ladder 41 forcible entry team met intense heat and heavy smoke. The apartment was cluttered with debris piled waist-high throughout. The crew closed the front door to protect occupants escaping down the public hallway. Schmidt stumbled along the apartment’s hallway for about 20 feet, tripping several times on debris, and met the main body of fire extending out of bedroom into the hallway. Crawling under the debris, he felt a hand. He had found a woman, face down and unconscious, buried beneath the debris. He immediately transmitted this information by radio, removed debris from the victim, and began the arduous task of removing her from the apartment. He called to Lieutenant Hurley and Firefighter Watson for assistance. They cleared a path through the debris and managed to get the victim to the street. She had no pulse and was not breathing. CPR was performed in the street by other FDNY members until EMS arrived. She was rushed to the hospital and survived with severe burns. |
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Edward Schmidt FDNY Bronx NY Engine 90 (No Photo) On Assignment to Ladder 41 $100 Award |
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Ladder 13
responded on March 17, 2001 to a dwelling fire at 8244 West Lafayette.
Upon arrival, Ladder 13 found the second floor of the two story dwelling
to be engulfed in flame and smoke. Civilians on the scene informed the
crew that a child was trapped on the second floor.
Fire Fighter Joseph Orzech and Lieutenant Gary Lauer stretched Ladder 13's high-pressure line up the stairs and midway down the second floor hallway. This was only possible because Lauer used the small high pressure hose to knock down the intense fire that was flowing down the hallway. Lauer advanced the line and managed to hold the flames back while Orzech fought extreme heat and smoke to begin searching for the child. He crawled over and around piles of trash and debris and made his way to the front of the dwelling, where he found an unconscious five-year-old girl who had hidden in a corner. Orzech carried her to a small front window and passed her to a waiting firefighter who had raised a ladder to this window. He was forced to remove his breathing apparatus in order to fit through the window and make his own escape. He crawled head first through the small window and down the ladder to safety. This rescue was made by only three firefighters, before any other fire companies had arrived on the scene.
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Joseph Orzech Detroit MI FD Ladder 13 $100 Award |
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On the morning of September 27, 2000, off-duty Firefighter John Carter was working at a St. Petersburg apartment complex. He pulled up to the maintenance shop which was near a swimming pool and noticed a little girl, around 3 years old, standing near the pool with no adults around. As he walked over to the child to ask her where her parents were, he noticed a little boy floating at the bottom of the pool. He jumped into the pool, grabbed the boy and handed him out to a bystander. The pulseless boy was not breathing. He told the bystander to call 9-1-1, then started CPR. After about 5 cycles of CPR, the boy spit up the water in his lungs and started crying. Several minutes later St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue arrived and transported the boy to the hospital, where he made a full recovery. |
John Carter Hillsborough County FL FD Honorable Mention |
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Ladder 18
responded to a medical call on April 7, 2001. While en route they were
told to wait for the Police Department’s arrival. While staging they saw
an assailant with a knife assaulting a victim in the street. The Captain
decided to approach with lights and siren to scare the assailant. As the
rig approached a police car arrived on scene. The assailant retreated
towards a house. The police officer approached him with gun drawn. The
assailant then ran towards the police officer, who shot him three times.
The officer then tripped and fell to the ground. The assailant jumped on
him and attempted to stab him. The officer managed to hold him off, though
he suffered several defensive wounds to his hands and arms.
Ladder 18’s crew was tending to the patient in the street, who had been stabbed four times. Firefighter Brandon Wade had brought a flat head ax with him, recognizing the potential threat from the assailant. He and Firefighter Richard Platz (now retired from the Austin FD) ran over to the fallen police officer to assist. As Platz got the assailant in a bear hug, Wade struck him with the flat side of the ax in an attempt to get him to drop the knife. Although this was unsuccessful, the firefighters distracted the crazed assailant long enough for him to be grabbed and subdued by newly arrived police officers. Without a doubt the actions of these two firefighters saved the police officer’s life. |
Brandon Wade Austin TX FD Ladder 18 $100 Award |
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On June
9, 2001, while off duty, Firefighter Robert G. Finn, Engine Company 18,
was informed by a neighbor that her 19 month old son had been submerged
under water in the bathtub.
Finn performed CPR while the mother called 9-1-1. Within seconds the child began coughing up water. Finn continued to keep the child comfortable until the arrival of an ambulance. The child was transported to South Shore Hospital for x-rays and tests and was transferred to Children's Hospital, where he made a full recovery Finn’s quick and skilled actions undoubtedly saved the child's life.
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Robert G. Finn Boston MA FD Engine 18 Honorable Mention |
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On June 1, 2001, while off duty and dining at Jimmy Maggs Restaurant in East Boston, Firefighter John F. Fitzpatrick, Ladder Company 21, assisted a 50 year old man who was having a medication reaction. After checking his vital signs, Fitzpatrick began rescue breathing on the victim, who was revived in approximately one minute. Engine Company 56 arrived with oxygen and the man was transported to the hospital by ambulance. |
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John F. Fitzpatrick Boston MA FD Ladder 21 Honorable Mentio |
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