Firehouse Magazine Rescue Award Winners for 1997
These winners were recognized in the April, 1998 Issue of Firehouse Magazine.
Return to 1997 Directory of Winners | Return to Home Page | Return to Hall of Heroes Page
|1998 Directory of Winners| Table of Contents Page | 1999 Directory of Winners
2000 Directory of Winners | 2001 Directory of Winners
Switch to the Firehouse Magazine Web Site: http://www.Firehouse.com
Page 1 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5
| Ronald Hudgins | Baltimore, MD | John O'Neill, Jr. | Youngstown, OH | Charles Zavrel | Philadelphia, PA |
| Dwight Hutchison | Miami, FL | Richard O'Neill | Boston, MA | George Anderson | Newark, NJ |
| Mark Jarczyk | Buffalo, NY | Robert Ore, Jr. | Lynchburg, VA | Anthony Branchcomb | San Francisco, CA |
| Jonathan Maggio | Norwalk, CT | Joseph Powell, Jr. | Washington, DC | Lawrence Brennan | Boston, MA |
| Joseph Marotta | Brooklyn, NY | Edward Scott | Kentland, MD | Richard Cadotte | Brooklyn, NY |
| Timothy McConnell | Long Beach, NY | George Storz | Brooklyn, NY | Joseph E. Duggan | Boston, MA |
| Thomas Melillo | Newark, NJ | Dennis Sullivan | San Francisco, CA | ||
| Robert Morris | Manhattan, Ny | James White | Boston, MA |
 |
On June 5, 1997,
units were dispatched to a dwelling fire at 917 N. Parrish Street. After the bulk of the
fire was extinguished, members of Engine 52 entered the building to reach burning
material inaccessible from exterior positions. As Lieutenant Mark Yant, the Officer of
Engine 52, entered a rear room on the second floor of the home, the entire floor
collapsed. Lieutenant Yant plunged with the debris into the first floor. Firefighter Ronald J. Hudgins, a member of Truck Co. 1, but detailed to Engine 6 that day, was standing on the rear porch of the first floor when the collapse occurred. Hudgins dove into the first floor rear window, where he managed to catch and hold Lieutenant Yant as he fell. Suspended about 15 feet above street level, Hudgins held on to Lieutenant Yant until other fire fighters arrived to assist him. |
Ronald Hudgins Jr., Baltimore, MD City FD |
 |
While finishing another call
at 0850 on January 10, 1997, Firefighter Hutcheson overheard "car in the lake’
dispatched. Being a department-certified rescue diver, he requested that his unit be
placed on the alarm along with the assigned rescue. Upon arrival, he made immediate entry and found that the vehicle rested upside down in about 15 feet of water. Unable to open the door, Firefighter Hutcheson broke a window and removed a child seat before he located the victim floating in the rear of the vehicle. He removed her and brought her to shore where crew members began treatment. |
Dwight Hutcheson, Metro-Dade Fire Rescue, Miami, FL |
 |
Arriving fire
companies encountered a 2 1/2 story wood frame building with dense black smoke. Frantic
civilians told fire crews that the building was occupied. Firefighter Jarczyk entered the
second floor via a ground ladder.He
pushed past the fire and began a search in dense black smoke without the aid of a charged
line. He entered a bedroom, found an unconscious 5 year old boy and carried him out of the
building. Jarczyk accompanied the child and ambulance to the hospital. After a short stay the victim fully recovered from his ordeal. |
Mark Jarczyk, Buffalo, NY FD |
 |
Car 2, first to arrive with Deputy Chief Kenny Ehiers and his
driver Jonathan Maggio, found a two story, wood frame house with fire blowing from two
windows on the first floor. A boy ran to the car screaming that his mother was still
inside.
Firefighter Maggio donned his SCBA and entered the house without a hose line. He climbed the stairs to the second floor and searched two bedrooms without locating the victim. Fire was now freely-burning on the first floor below him and beginning to climb the stairs. Maggio felt his way to a bathroom, were he found the unconscious victim. Near exhaustion, he radioed his location to the rescue company now entering the house with firefighters from the first due engine. Maggio helped the rescue firefighters to carry the victim from the house, then re-entered the structure to assist other companies. The victim was brought to Norwalk Hospital where she remained for several weeks. |
Jonathan Maggio, Norwalk, CT FD |
 |
Ladder
175 found a building with fire out of 3 windows on the 3rd floor. Civilians in the street
said that 2 children were trapped in the fire apartment. As the forcible entry team
entered the building, Lt. Washington ordered the aerial ladder to the 3rd floor window for
possible rescue of the trapped victims. With the aerial at the 3rd floor window sill, FF Joe Marotta raced
up to vent and search for victims. Without water, the
inside team could not reach the victims in the heavy fire and smoke. After breaking a
window and donning his facepiece, Marotta slid into a wall of black smoke issuing
from the window.
Thirty seconds into the search he came upon the lifeless form of a girl lying face down on the floor. As he grabbed the child, he was shocked to find the body of her younger sister lying beneath her. He picked up the 5 year old, and crawled with her to the window. FF Velilla was now at the tip of the ladder to take the child. Marotta dropped back down into the murkiness of the room to get the older child. As he was removing burning debris from the teenager, the forcible entry team, finally able to knock the flames down from the interior, entered the room to assist him with the rescue. FF Callan and FF Marotta gently picked up the unresponsive girl and carried her through two rooms to the interior stairs and down to the street. Both girls survived. Marotta suffered 2nd degree burns to his left leg. |
Joseph Marotta, FDNY, Brooklyn, NY |
 |
Engine 42 was
operating at a house fire. The crew was trying unsuccessfully to advance an attack line
into a fully involved attic. Capt. Timothy McConnell decided to get to the roof and check
on an alternate attack. FF Joseph Norman climbed a ground ladder to the roof to vent. As
he stepped onto the roof, he suddenly disappeared. McConnell saw Norman engulfed in flames and hanging on to a 2x4 wood beam. As he crawled over to rescue him he felt the remaining portions of roof beneath him starting to fail. McConnell saw that Norman could not save himself. Risking his life, he reached into the burning hole, grabbed Norman’s harness, and pulled him up and out of the attic and across the peaked roof. He managed to get Norman to the edge of the roof, where a ground ladder was positioned. Seeing that Norman was dazed and confused, McConnell placed him on the rungs of the ladder, where members below were waiting to assist him. Norman was led away from the house and into the street, where his burned turnout gear was hosed down and removed from his body. He sustained 2nd and 3rd degree facial burns. Captain McConnell sustained 1st degree burns to his face. |
Timothy McConnell, Long Beach, NY FD |
 |
On
January 27, 1997, at 0229 hours an alarm for fire was transmitted at a six family, brick
three-story dwelling. Battalion Chief Marcell found a working fire, with fire coming
twenty feet up the front of the building from the second floor windows. Two victims jumped through a rear window onto a lower level fire escape landing, badly cut and injured. One of them told Chief Marcell that her baby was still in the building on the third floor. Rescue Squad, next on the scene, was advised of the trapped victim and immediately went to work. Firefighters Steven LaPenta and Thomas Melillo went to the second floor hallway and up the rear stairway to the third floor, which was heavily charged with heat and thick smoke. On their stomachs, they began the search. Firefighter Mellilo found a one year old boy who was not breathing. Melillo removed his mask in an extremely toxic atmosphere and attempted an initial revival. He carried the victim to a clear space and administered CPR, bringing him to the street and awaiting E.M.S. The victim’s heart beat was restored in the ambulance, but he later expired at the hospital. |
Thomas Melillo, Newark, NJ FD |
 |
From Battalion Chief
O’Donohue’s nomination for a Firehouse Magazine award: I would like to
nominate for your Heroism Award New York City Captain Robert Morris of Ladder Co. 28. On July 4, 1997 Capt. Morris rescued a 92 year old woman from an apartment fire at 2680 8th avenue in the borough of Manhattan. Capt. Morris passed by and under heavy fire from an adjoining room in his efforts to reach the woman. He displayed great dedication, initiative and bravery in his actions which undoubtedly saved this woman’s life. Capt. Morris is truly a credit to not only the New York City Fire Department but to firefighters everywhere. |
Robert Morris, FDNY, Manhattan, NY |
 |
At 0141 on 22
September 1997, an alarm was sounded for an occupied structure fire. Captain O’Neill
arrived first with his crew. A distressed woman told the crew that her son was in a second
floor bedroom directly above the fire. O’Neill directed the crew members to stretch an attack line, ordering them to knock down the fire while he went to find access to the upstairs. He forced open the dead-bolted back door; a quick check of the first floor yielded no child. He moved to the second floor and began searching for the boy, unaided by either a hoseline or other personnel. As Squad 33 came on the scene, O’Neill called for its captain, Rich Russo, to assist. On his way in Russo ordered the crews to bring a line to the rear of the house and follow the two captains to the second story. Conditions were serious and unstable. Further advancement without a hoseline would be putting the crews’ lives in jeopardy; ladder crews found heat and smoke so intense that they were unable enter from the upper level windows. The two veteran captains decided to push forward, weighing the risks to their own safety against the diminishing odds for survival of a small child. As O’Neill worked his way through the front of the dwelling, he thought he heard a small whimper, like the sound of a puppy. He inched in the direction of the sound, and found the child lying on the floor in a bedroom, wrapped in a blanket. Clutching the boy to his chest and crouching low, Captain O’Neill headed for an exit. He made his way down the darkened hallway to the open door. The child was rushed to an ambulance and survived. |
John O’Neill Jr., Younstown, OH FD |
 |
On January 13, 1997, at 2214,
Ladder Company 15 responded to a report of a bus in the Charles River. Off duty
Firefighter Richard S. O’Neill notified the officer that he had his scuba gear with
him and would follow Ladder Company 15 to the scene. Upon arrival, Ladder Company 15 encountered an MBTA bus in
the water with the front end submerged. O’Neill was faced with the problem of a night
dive in the ice covered river, diesel fuel in the water, and the unstable confined space
of the underwater bus in zero visibility. Without regard for his own safety, O’Neill
entered the bus and conducted a search, located the driver and removed him to the surface.
He returned and conducted a secondary search, but no other persons were found. This rescue was performed at great personal risk in the most hazardous conditions. |
Richard O’Neill, Boston MA FD |
 |
As
Firefighter Ore arrived on the scene, he was confronted by a frantic parent screaming that
her child was trapped on the second floor. With heavy smoke and fire conditions on the
first floor, Firefighter Ore charged into the building to make the rescue without the
protection of a hose line or a backup crew. While he was searching the second floor, the rest of the first floor flashed over, trapping him and the victim on the second floor. After locating the three-year-old child, and knowing that time was of the essence for the child’s survival, he somehow retraced his steps and made it through a heavily involved room and stairway, delivering the child to waiting paramedics, who treated her for first and second degree burns and smoke inhalation. She was transported to Lynchburg General Hospital, treated there, and transferred to the Pediatric Unit of Virginia Baptist Hospital, where she remained for several days. Thanks to the quick thinking and courageous actions of Firefighter Ore, the child is expected to make a full recovery. |
Robert Ore Jr., Lynchburg, VA FD |
 |
Engine Company 24 was
dispatched to 614 Princeton Place N.W. While Engine Company 11, the 1st due company, led
the primary attack, Lieutenant Joseph Powell had his crew members pull a second attack
line and prepare to back up Engine 11’s line. Powell
entered the building to search for trapped occupants. He climbed the stairs to the second
floor in severe fire conditions, searched this floor, and started up another flight to the
third floor. He found an occupant lying unconscious on these stairs. He grabbed the victim
and started down, but the first floor stairs were no longer tenable. He realized that he
must find a second exit not only to make the rescue but to save his own life. Blinded by
smoke and pinned to the floor by the intense heat, he moved with the victim towards
the front of the house.
He made it down the hallway and into the bedroom on the second floor, where he was met by Firefighters Hankerson and Reynolds of Rescue Squad 2. They had thrown a ladder to the second floor and entered the building. They helped Powell to drag the victim to a window, where he was carried down the ladder to safety. He was hospitalized and recovered from his injuries. |
Joseph Powell Jr., District of Columbia FD |
 |
On November 21, 1997 at 0115 Kentland
Volunteer Fire Department units were dispatched to a house fire at 1146 Booker Drive in
Chapel Oaks. There was a report of persons trapped on the second floor. The officer on
Engine 332 ordered Firefighter Edward Scott to move a ladder to the second floor porch,
climb through a window and search the second floor. Other members of Engine 332 and Tower 33 were advancing hose lines to contain and extinguish the heavy volume of fire on the first floor. Firefighter Scott began a search for trapped victims. Without protection of a hose line and working alone above heavy fire conditions on the first floor, Scott realized that he had little time to complete a primary search for a rescue. Intense heat limited his rescue efforts, but he continued until he located an unconscious victim. Working alone, he moved this victim through a window onto the porch roof and down the ladder. The courage, quickness and professionalism displayed by Firefighter Scott, made it possible to rescue a woman from the second floor of this burning building. |
| Edward Scott, Kentland, MD FD |
 |
While off duty, Firefighter
Storz was alerted of a robbery attempt at the home of his neighbor, an elderly woman. He
surprised the burglar and was stabbed during a struggle that moved from the victim’s
home to the front yard.
Storz was hospitalized in critical condition, and was out of action for six months. |
George Storz, FDNY, Brooklyn, NY |
 |
On October 19,
1997 a fourth alarm was struck for a building fire located at 864 Ellis Street. There were
reports of people trapped. Temporary Lieutenant Dennis Sullivan of Rescue Squad 2 and his
partner ascended the interior stairwell in search of a woman who was trapped on the third
floor.
He walked into a room ahead of the attack line, with intense heat and smoke coming from an adjacent room. Hearing whimpers, Sullivan moved ahead and found the victim huddled under a blanket in the corner of the hallway. Sullivan and his partner moved the unconscious victim to safety. |
Dennis Sullivan, San Francisco, CA FD |
 |
On September 17, 1997 at 0151 hours,
Box 1321 was struck for a building fire. Heavy fire was showing from every window on the
first and second floors of a three story heavy timber construction building. Firefighter James White, Engine Company 8, detailed to Ladder Company 1, ascended the aerial ladder to perform roof ventilation. Upon reaching the roof, he discovered that an addition had been built and was filled with heavy smoke banked down to the floor. He broke a plate glass window and saw an unconscious victim on a couch. Crawling through extreme heat and heavy smoke, he reached the victim, dragged him to the floor and out onto the roof, and removed him to safety via the aerial ladder. This rescue was performed at great personal risk , before ventilation was made or lines of charged hose were deployed. |
James White, Boston, MA FD |
 |
Engine
Company 53 encountered a burning two story multi-family dwelling. Heavy smoke and
heat flowed from the second floor. While awaiting the support of two other engines and
ladders, E 53 members advanced a hose line into the hallway in an effort to keep the fire
from taking control of the stairwell, which was the only means of egress for the second
floor.
They heard someone in the second floor hallway. Firefighter Charles Zavrel, a recent graduate of the fire cadet training class, ascended the stairwell in an attempt to rescue her. He found a young girl, grasped her hand and passed her down to the Company Officer, who moved her outside to safety. Again Zavrel climbed the stairs to search for other victims. At the top of the landing, he heard the frantic screams of a young boy coming from the rear bedroom. He forcibly entered the room and found the frightened child, who had tried to escape the fire and smoke by crawling under a bed. He grabbed the boy and carried him out of the building, where medic unit members treated and transported him to the hospital. |
Charles Zavrel, Philadelphia, PA FD |
 |
On January 15, 1997 at 0245
hours an alarm was transmitted for a fire at 2 East Park. A man holding an infant was
stranded on a fire escape landing 2 floors above the street. Firefighter George Anderson
of Rescue 1 immediately climbed a flimsy fire escape straight ladder past the fully
involved lower level windows to the landing.
Upon reaching the trapped victims Anderson calmed them and radioed for the aerial ladder to be put into place to make a rescue; Truck Co. 1 re-directed their ladder from the roof to the victims, who were all rescued. |
George Anderson, Newark, NJ FD |
|
On July 2, 1997, a second alarm was struck for a building fire at 854 Greenwich Street. This incident involved a fully involved 2 story apartment building. While working under heavy smoke conditions on the 2nd floor, Firefighter Anthony Branchcomb found a burn victim in the apartment where the fire originated. The victim was combative toward Branchcomb due to the nature of his injuries. Branchcomb persisted and was able to remove the victim from the fire building to a safe area, where he then administered first aid. |
|
Anthony Branchcomb, San Francisco, CA FD |
 |
On July 1, 1996, while off
duty at Nantasket Beach, Hull, Firefighter Lawrence Brennan of Engine Company 22 heard
screams for help from a boy struggling in a riptide 75 yards offshore.
When he was within 20 yards of the youngster, the boy lost his grip on the surfboard that was keeping him afloat. Brennan reached the boy, secured a hold on him and towed him ashore. |
Lawrence Brennan, Boston, MA FD |
| Picture not available. | On August 9, 1997 a Brooklyn man was digging a 15 foot deep hole to reach a water line when the hole collapsed and buried him. Ladder Company 122 responded. Firefighter Cadotte risked his life to enter the hole and rescue Mr. Perez from his predicament. |
| Richard Cadotte, FDNY, NY |
 |
On October 20, 1996, while
off duty at home, Captain Joseph B. Duggan. of Rescue Company 1 was alerted by a neighbor
that her house was on fire. Duggan ran to the neighbor’s house across the street,
where he found a hose in the front yard.
He entered the house, descended the basement stairs that were charged with heat and smoke and extinguished the fire. His actions were performed under great personal risk, without protective clothing and before proper ventilation. |
Joseph E. Duggan, Boston, MA FD |
Return to 1997 Directory of Winners | Return to Home Page | Return to Hall of Heroes Page
|1998 Directory of Winners| Return to Top of Page | Table of Contents Page | 1999 Directory of Winners