Firehouse Magazine Rescue Award Winners for 2002
These winners were recognized in the April, 2003 Issue of Firehouse Magazine.
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| Joerger, Scott | Rochester, NY FD | Goldsmith, Alvin | Detroit FD | Malone, Scott | Boston FD |
| Kerber, Stephen | Prince George's County MD FD | Jackson, Michael J. | Baton Rouge, LA FD | Martin, Robert E. | Boston FD |
| Slane,Thomas | Prince George's County MD FD | Pearson, Clifton J. | Baton Rouge, LA FD | Shea, Gerard | Boston FD |
| Lopez, Pedro | Detroit FD | Williams, James A | Baton Rouge, LA FD | McCallum, James | Detroit FD |
| Harris, Claude | Detroit FD | MacLeod, Scott | Corpus Christi, TX FD | Kyle, Robert | Jersey City, NJ FD |
| Johnson, Sivad | Detroit FD | Stuive, Mikal | Corpus Christi, TX FD | Nowak, Peter | Jersey City, NJ FD |
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At 5:38 AM of November 5, 2002 Lieutenant Scott
Joerger responded with his crew from Engine 16 to a house fire just four
blocks from their firehouse. Joerger and two members of his crew advanced
a hose line around the building and up a flight of stairs to the second
floor. At this point the line snagged and could be advanced no further.
Joerger now heard the radio transmit a report that a man was
trapped in the burning apartment. As his teammates retreated back outside
to free the snagged hose line, Joerger crawled through thick, acrid smoke to reach the
apartment. On his way he heard muffled moans which provided him some sense
of direction. In almost zero visibility, with the orange glow from fire in
the ceiling over his head, he entered the living room and advanced under
the fire to locate an unconscious and badly burned man.
Joerger dragged the victim back into the hallway, where he was once
again joined by his team mates with the hose line. They carried the
injured man from the building, while Joerger returned to the apartment
with the hose line to continue his search and knock down the fire. The victim survived his injuries. |
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Scott
Joerger Engine 16 Rochester, NY FD $100 Award |
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Stephen Kerber $100 Award |
Thomas Slane $100Award |
Prince George's County, MD, FD Station 12 |
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At 1054 hours on Sunday, October 28, 2002, units were dispatched to the campus of the University of Maryland to a report of smoke in the Physics building. Upon arrival, workers advised firefighters that there had been an explosion in the electrical room and that a worker was trapped in the room. Engine 121 immediately made their way to the reported floor where they found heavy smoke coming from the electrical room. As crew members stretched the standpipe line, Lieutenant Stephen Kerber and Firefighter Thomas Slane, with only the protection of a large C02 extinguisher, entered the electrical room. |
As they searched for the victim they attempted to control as much of the fire as possible. They located the victim and used their own bodies to shield him as they dragged him past the burning electrical panels into the hallway. From there he was transported to a nearby hospital, but unfortunately succumbed to his injuries. |
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Pedro
Lopez Engine 37 Detroit FD $100 Award |
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Claude Harris $100 Award |
Sivad Johnson $100 Award |
Alvin Goldsmith Honorable Mention |
Detroit FD Squad 1 |
Squad 1 and
Engine 53 arrived at the scene of a fully involved three story house.
Bystanders reported that someone was trapped on an upper floor.
Sergeant Alvin Goldsmith directed Firefighters Claude Harris and
Sivad Johnson to remove a lader from Engine 53 and use it to gain access
to an upper story window in the rear of the house. They did so, and all
three firefighters entered the house, with no hose line, and began a
search.
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They found an unconscious woman weighing in excess of 250 pounds. Goldsmith found a bed comforter and directed Harris and Johnson to drag the woman back to the window. The three got the unconscious woman out of the window an down the ladder to the ground, where she was transported to a hospital. |
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Michael J. Jackson Engine 4 $100 Award |
Clifton J. Pearson Engine 4 $100 Award |
James A. Williams Engine 6 $100 Award |
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Baton Rouge, LA FD |
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When Engine 4 arrived on the scene, Firefighters Michael Jackson and Clifton Pearson knew it was going to be bad. The dispatcher had said that there might be children trapped inside the house. So when the fire truck pulled up in front of the home and the neighbors were shouting that they were still inside, the two firefighters knew what had to be done. The firefighters ran straight to the house. As they came up, the Incident Commander told them to try to perform a rescue. All of the windows and doors had burglar bars securely bolted on them. Other firefighters were also trying to gain entry. Finally they forced open the carport door. Jackson and Pearson entered the house. Heavy black smoke and heat kept them crawling low along the walls while using their hands in a sweeping motion to search for the children. As they moved from room to room searching, they came into a large room with a sunken den floor. They thought they heard a very soft moan coming from a corner of the room.
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They went straight to the sound and found two small children lying in the corner. They immediately grabbed the children and headed for the door. Firefighter James Williams was riding on Engine 6 as a manpower truck. When he exited the truck he was told to go help with the rescue of the children. At the carport door he met Jackson and Pearson coming out of the house with the children. That's when a neighbor said there was still one more child inside. Jackson told Williams where to go to find the other child. Williams entered the house and went straight to the child, who was slightly off to the side from where the others had been. He left the home with the last child in his arms and immediately went to the EMS unit. The three children were transported to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. Two of the children recovered. One died. |
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Scott MacLeod $100 Award |
Mikal Stuive $100 Award |
Corpus Christi, TX, FD Medic 10 |
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Medic 10, manned by Firefighter/Paramedics Scott MacLeod and Mikal Stuive, were dispatched in the early evening of April 27, 2002 to a possible drowning in Corpus Christi Bay. Upon arrival they observed four victims in water ten feet deep and approximately fifty yards off shore. All four appeared to be struggling to stay afloat. The wind was creating significant swells, which were striking the seawall and rebounding back towards the victims. As they departed the medic unit, they saw one of the victims disappear under the waves. MacLeod entered the water with a rescue tube while Stuive gave a size-up to incoming units.
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Stuive then entered the water and swam towards his partner. By this time MacLeod had given the rescue tube to one of the victims, who was working her way to shore. MacLeod retrieved the submerged victim and began swimming to shore while Stuive swam farther out to the remaining two victims. One of the victims told Stuive that he could not stay afloat any longer, and started to submerge. Stuive managed to secure both victims and pulled them to shore. Three of the victims were transported to a hospital, where they all fully recovered. |
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Scott
Malone Tower Ladder 10 Boston FD $100 Award |
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Robert E. Martin Ladder 17 $100 Award |
Gerard Shea Rescue 1 $100 Award |
Boston FD Boston, MA |
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Upon
arrival of apparatus at a building fire, heavy smoke was pouring out of a
basement apartment and up the stairs of the building. Debris and furniture blocked the apartment door and the tight
quarters encountered while attempting to advance the line in heavy smoke
made it difficult to reach the seat of the fire. Firefighter Robert E.
Martin, Ladder Company 17, followed Engine Company 22's line into the
apartment and began conducting a primary search. He located Firefighter
George A. Gilchrist, Engine Company 22, who had exhausted his air supply
while trying to advance the line, and was quickly losing consciousness.
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Martin removed his face piece, placed it on Gilchrist and attempted to revive him while calling for help. Lieutenant Gerard F. Shea, Rescue Company 1, heard the call and responded to assist. Both men dragged Gilchrist over to a window and began to remove him to safety, when the fire flashed over, placing all three members in grave peril. Martin and Shea managed to get Gilchrist to safety, where he was revived and transported to the Massachusetts General Hospital to be placed in a hyperbaric chamber. Fire Fighter Martin was transported to the Boston Medical Center where he was treated and released. |
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James
McCallum Detroit FD $100 Award |
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Robert Kyle $100 Award |
Peter Nowak $100 Award |
Jersey City, NJ, FD Ladder 12 |
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On
March 22, 2002, Ladder 12 was responding to a second-alarm at a high rise
building fire (which was placed under control quickly) when they were
diverted to a working fire in an abandoned, eight-story cold storage
warehouse. Fire was showing on the first floor loading docks and second
floor stairwell windows. The first engine on scene radioed that people were
observed trapped at the third floor window, and that they were unable to
advance their hand line up the staircase due to the high volume of fire on
the first floor. Ladder was
ordered by the 3rd Battalion Chief to raise their aerial to the third
floor and conduct a primary search. The civilians could no longer be seen at
the window. The metal frame stairwell windows measured only two feet by four
feet and were the only windows in the cold storage warehouse. their lives at
severe risk to make these rescues
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Captain
Robert Kyle and Firefighter Peter Nowak climbed the aerial to the window
and entered the building, where they met with heavy smoke and high heat.
Nowak found a semi-conscious man slumped on the staircase near the fourth
floor landing with a rag around his face. Sharing his face piece, Nowak
brought the man to the window, where members lifted him out onto the
aerial ladder and brought him to the ground. Nowak and Captain Kyle again
entered the building, and with the aid of a thermal imaging camera, found
a man whom they assisted to the aerial ladder and down to the ground.
The situation bore a chilling similarity to the cold storage
warehouse fire in Worcester, Massachusetts that took the lives of six
firefighters. Working above
the fire without the protection of a hose line, these firefighters
put
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