1998 Rescue Award Winners Page 1

Robert S. Hoff	Chicago, IL	Merrill Wood	Houston, TX	Andrew Keller	Montgomery County, MD
George S. Shea	Brooklyn, NY	Kelly Miller	Houston, TX	Dennis Schroyer	Detroit, MI
Thaddeus Mlodzinsky	Philadelphia, PA	Travis Quinn	Houston, TX	Richard Gainer	Detroit, MI
Jefrey Cook	Toledo, OH	Timothy Wuerful	Los Angeles, CA	Peter Pink	Detroit, MI
Mark McKenzie	Montgomery County, MD	Richard A. Van Sant	Indianapolis, IN	Robert J. Connolly	Boston, MA
Jeff Mitchell	Mesa, AZ	Gordon Barton	Lynn, MA	Eugene B. Fortes	Boston, MA
Terry Self	Mesa, AZ	Walter Stottlemeyer, Jr.	Montgomery County, MD

On Nov. 23, 1997, at 1:50 AM., Battalion Chief Robert S. Hoff had just returned from a fire when he was dispatched to another. He was first to arrive, and saw heavy black smoke pushing from the 2nd floor rear windows of a 2½-story wood-frame house. Neighbors screamed that children were trapped on the second floor.

Knowing that he had only minutes to rescue the children before the entire second floor became an inferno, and acting alone, Hoff rushed up the smoke filled stairs, and crawled into the bedroom. He knew that if the fire (which was rolling up the walls and across the ceiling) in the kitchen opposite the bedroom flashed, he would be trapped. He judged the situation to be desperate enough to search despite this danger. Inside the bedroom he found twin 4-year-old children.

He grabbed one child by the belt of his trousers and the other child around the waist just as the kitchen flashed over. He carried them down the stairs and met firefighters from Truck 18 at the front door. The twins’ lives were saved. Civilians and firefighters alike were amazed at one man’s courage.

Robert S. Hoff, Chicago, IL, FD

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Ladder 157 arrived at a fire in a four-story multiple dwelling. A frantic woman was screaming that her children were trapped in a top-floor apartment. As they neared the open apartment door, smoke and heat in the hallway forced firefighters to their hands and knees. Fire was blowing from two windows and heavy smoke was pushing from three other windows.

Fire had full possession of one bedroom and was extending throughout the apartment. Seconds earlier, a captain from an engine company had removed an infant from the totally involved bedroom, suffering serious burns to himself and the infant. Crawling on his belly to stay under the heat and flames, without a hoseline, Firefighter Shea passed this fire room to search the rear bedroom .

He groped his way until he heard faint cries, and found a 6-year-old child lying in the corner of the room. Mustering his remaining strength, he picked up the child and crawled back to the entrance to the apartment, shielding the child from the heat with his body. The child survived his ordeal. Shea was treated for burns and a large laceration.

George S. Shea, FDNY, Brooklyn, NY

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On April 5, 1997, a box was struck for a fire in an apartment building. Arriving units found a three-story apartment building with heavy fire throughout the first floor and heavy smoke on the second and third floors. While ventilating the front of the building, Firefighter Mlodzinski, Ladder 6, received a report of children trapped in the second-floor apartment.

With fire reaching up the stairway, Mlodzinski, without a hoseline, entered the front window on the second floor and began his search. In zero visibility and extreme heat, he methodically searched the smoke-filled apartment and found four members of the family. He carried the victims, one by one, to the window, and handed them out to the porch roof.

As he passed out the fourth victim, Mlodzinski was ordered from the building. As engine companies advanced, other victims were located. Shortly after the fire was knocked down, the entire front section of the building collapsed, trapping several firefighters in the debris.

Thaddeus Mlodzinski, Philadelphia, PA FD

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On Feb. 13, 1998, Life Squad 3, an Ambulance, was ambushed by an assailant with a shotgun. The Squad had just treated stabbing victims and were en route to Toledo Hospital with two squad units. The first unit was transporting a 10-year-old child and the second unit was transporting a non-responsive 30-year-old.

An assailant walked up and fired 12-gauge double-00 shot through the driver’s-side windshield of the first unit. Lieutenant Cook got out to check on the condition of the driver. The assailant then shot Lieutenant Cook, knocking him to the ground. Despite this critical injury, Cook kept his composure and radioed a description as well as the license plate of the vehicle used by the assailant to flee the scene. Lt. Cook recovered from his wounds.

Jefrey Cook, Toledo, OH FD

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As Rescue 2 arrived on the scene of a fire, a woman shouted that several children were trapped inside. Master Firefighter McKenzie could hear them screaming. He crashed into the smoke-charged apartment. Visibility was zero. He stumbled down the hallway, without the protection of a hoseline.

As he crawled from room to room towards the sound of the children’s screams, he found a cat and removed it from the structure. Initially, he thought that the cat might have been making the screaming sounds. However, his worst fears were confirmed as the children called out again. Once again, he entered the structure, still without a hoseline. He groped deeper into the apartment to the seat of the fire. He crawled under the flames into a back bedroom to a crib, reached inside and found a two year old girl.

He grabbed her and was about to leave when he heard more screaming and coughing in the room. He found another crib with a four year old boy. He grabbed this child in his other arm. He stumbled to a window and lifted the children to the tower ladder crew and safety. Both children recovered fully.

Mark McKenzie, Montgomery County, MD FD

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Two young boys had climbed to the very top of a 125-foot-tall high-voltage electrical transmission tower. One of them was a 10- year-old autistic boy. His 17-year-old brother had followed him up the tower in an attempt to save him.
The Technical Rescue Team was requested. TRT team leader Firefighter Jeff Mitchell was helped by off-duty Captain Terry Self, also a TRT member, who saw the event on his TV and rushed to the scene. 230,000 volts were surging through the lines. The power was rerouted, but the possibility of a spontaneous and fatal static discharge still existed.

A tower ladder was used to deliver Mitchell and Self with their ropes, harnesses and rappelling gear to the 75 foot level of the tower. From there they were forced to free climb to the 125-foot level. With winter winds, falling temperatures and fading daylight, and under the watchful eye of five news helicopters, they secured the boys, who were less than 6 feet from the power lines, and lowered them to the ground to safety.

Jeff Mitchell, Mesa, AZ FD

Terry Self, Mesa, AZ FD
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Merrill Wood, Houston, TX FD

Kelly Miller, Houston, TX FD

Travis Quinn, Houston, TX FD

Fire involved the second and third floors of a three-story frame dwelling. As Engine 7 made a fast attack, members of Engine 16 and Ladder 16 entered the fire room to assist. Without warning, the entire ceiling collapsed. Engine 7 members were able to extricate themselves from the debris. Engine 16 and Ladder 16 crews were not so lucky. They lay trapped under hundreds of pounds of concrete, plaster, wire mesh and burning debris. Firefighter Miller (Engine 7), dazed and injured from a blow to the head from falling plaster and concrete, freed himself and searched for trapped firefighters. He located Captain Baker and freed him from the wreckage. Another firefighter lay trapped and critically injured.

Captain Wood (Engine 16) found him. Because of the unstable nature of the room, rescue efforts were slow and labor intensive. Firefighter Quinn (Ladder 7) arrived in response to Wood’s call for help. With a pike pole, they tried to wedge and lift the debris trapping the firefighter. Despite low air supplies in their SCBA, and with fire beginning to roll over their heads, Wood and Quinn stayed until they lifted the debris high enough so that other rescuers could pull to safety a firefighter who had suffered second-, third- and fourth-degree burns.
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On September 30, 1998, Task Force 33 and Rescue 833 were dispatched to a structure fire. They saw a rescue effort in progress by civilian neighbors. The civilians were attempting to break a hole in the exterior wall with a sledgehammer in an effort to rescue a six-year-old girl trapped inside the burning structure. Firefighter / Paramedic Wuerful, riding Truck 33, was making his way to the rear of the fire building to make forcible entry when he also saw the rescue attempt.
The firefighters could hear faint cries for help from the trapped little girl. As Wuerful donned his breathing apparatus, Firefighters Lopez arid Clarke crawled through the hole in the wall into the burning structure without breathing apparatus to attempt a rescue. They crawled a few feet before heavy smoke forced them out. Wuerful had now donned his SCBA. He asked his fellow firefighters to "Make sure I come out." and entered the building through the small opening, alone and without a hoseline.

Following the information given to him by the neighbors, Wuerful crawled into the structure until he reached the bathroom, where he began his search. Unable to see or feel the victim, he moved to the closet. Finding only burning contents, he moved on to the fully involved bedroom. Following another futile search he returned, passing through the still burning closet to return to the bathroom.

It was during this second effort that he found the victim in her place of refuge under the sink. Wrapping the tiny six-year-old in his arms, Wuerful made his way through the closet and back to the original hole. The little girl’s breathing was restored by Firefighter Lopez, and she was transported to the hospital, where she made a full recovery.

Timothy Wuerful, Los Angeles, CA City FD
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While off duty in a pleasure boat, Firefighter Van Sant saw a van occupied by three women crash into a lake, then float 120 feet from shore. He swam to the van. The door was locked and the windows were up, and the women were unable to unlock the doors. The front of the van began sinking. Unable to break the window with his fists, Van Sant swam to shore to find a rock. He swam back with a 10-pound rock.
By now only four feet of the rear of the van was out of the water. After three attempts, the window finally broke. Van Sant grabbed two of the women at which point the entire van sank. The third women dove out the broken window. The women said they couldn’t swim, so Van Sant and another rescuer brought them to shore. The van wound up 20 feet below the surface.

Richard A. Van Sant Jr., Indianapolis, IN FD
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Rescue 1 responded to a fire in a three-story, wood frame, six-family building. Heavy fire was showing on the second floor. A second alarm was quickly followed by a third. Firefighter Gordon Barton of Rescue 1 and Firefighter Richard Love of Engine 11 stretched a hose up the front stairs and third floor landing to the doors of the two apartments on that floor.
Heavy fire was burning in the apartment on the right side of the landing. Barton and Love crawled with the hoseline through the front door. Hidden fire in the attic had damaged the ceiling in the hallway and it collapsed on top of them. Embers burned their faces and necks, and backs. A blow to the head from the ceiling debris dazed Love. Barton freed himself from the debris and disentangled Love.

He dragged Love to the second floor landing and together with other members carried him to the street, where he was transported to the hospital. He was admitted in fair condition and while recuperating had a heart attack. He remains on disability leave pending his retirement. Firefighter Barton was transported to the hospital for his own injuries, where he was treated and released.

Gordon Barton, Lynn, MA FD
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Under extreme heat and smoke conditions, Master Firefighter Keller and Captain Walter Stottlemyer, Jr. entered the basement area of a house fully involved in fire. Several children were confirmed trapped in the structure. Without the protection of a hoseline, Keller and Stottlemyer twice entered the fire area and performed search and rescue efforts.
During the second attempt a flashover occurred and Captain Stottlemyer received first and second degree burns to his neck, arms, and shoulders. Keller maintained contact with Stottlemyer at all times during the rescue operations. Additionally, he assisted with the removal of two children from the structure. Keller provided a safety net and assistance with search and rescue efforts. This incident was a tragic event because of the loss of two children at this house fire. Because of the efforts of Captain Stottlemyer and Master Firefighter Keller, one child is alive today.

Walter Stottlemeyer, Jr.

Andrew Keller

Montgomery County, MD FD

Montgomery County, MD FD

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Dennis Schroyer Detroit, MI FD Richard Gainer Detroit, MI FD Peter Pink Detroit, MI FD

On February 17, 1998 Tactical Manpower Squad 6 responded to a Box Alarm. Upon arrival, Lieutenant Schroyer was notified that children were trapped on the second floor of a two-family dwelling which was heavily involved in fire. Finding the stairwell to be blocked by fire, Schroyer used a ladder to enter the second floor dormer window. Without a hoseline, and knowing his escape route was blocked, Schroyer nonetheless entered the burning second floor and began searching. He found-and removed two children from a makeshift bedroom at the rear of the dwelling to the safety of a rear porch. He then returned to the fire floor and assisted with the removal of a third child. At the same fire, TMS-6 Firefighter Richard Gainer attempted to rescue the children. Finding the rear door of the second floor locked with iron bars, Gainer used a Ripper Tool to saw through the bars and gain access to the bedroom hallway. Also without a hoseline, he entered the house and found a child in a rear bedroom. After removing the child he re-entered the dwelling to assist Lt. Schroyer with the rescue of-another child. The two firefighters saved the lives of four children. While Gainer was sawing through the bars on the second floor window, Lieutenant Peter Pink of Engine 58 climbed through a front dormer window on the second floor, moved without a hoseline past rolling flames, hot gases, and intense smoke, and found and saved another child.
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Robert J. Connolly

Eugene B. Fortes

Boston, MA FD

On April 30, 1998. Box 5322 was struck for a building fire at 14 Colbourne Road, District 11. Upon arrival, smoke was showing from a third floor window. Entering the building, Lieutenant Robert Connolly and Firefighter Eugene Fortes encountered a woman on the stairway who told them that her husband was in the apartment that was on fire. Connolly saw heavy smoke pushing from its door on the third floor landing. He attempted a forced entry, but met resistance when trying to open the door. He managed to open it enough to squeeze through, and immediately had to drop to the floor because the room was heavily charged with heat and smoke. He found the victim lying across the bedroom threshold behind the entry door. To remove the victim he had to close the door behind him and move the victim away from the door. Once this was done, he opened the door, removed his face piece and placed it on the victim. Fortes then entered the apartment and helped Connolly to remove the victim to the stairwell landing. Shortly after this, the room flashed over. Because this rescue was performed under rapidly deteriorating fire conditions, prior to proper ventilation and without the protection of a charged line, Lieutenant Connolly and Firefighter Fortes placed themselves at extreme personal risk.

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