BY MARY JANE DITTMAR
The Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award, presented by the Fire Engineering Courage and Valor Foundation, commemorates the life and career achievements of Deputy Chief Ray Downey, chief of rescue operations and 39-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), who was killed on 9/11. He was the most highly decorated firefighter in the history of FDNY at the time.
Previous award recipients include the following:
- 2002. Deputy Chief Ray Downey, FDNY (posthumously).
- 2003. Firefighter Derek D. Martin, St. Louis (MO) Fire Department (posthumously).
- 2004. Captain Douglas McDonald, Novato (CA) Fire Protection District.
- 2005. Captain John Taylor, Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department (posthumously).
- 2006. Senior Firefighter Sean Neary, Detroit (MI) Fire Department.
- 2007. Lieutenant Howard Carpluk, FDNY (posthumously).
- 2008. Lieutenant Michael Cabral, Fall River (MA) Fire Department.
- 2009. Firefighter Anthony Rueda, Milwaukee (WI) Fire Department.
2010 NOMINEES
Following are summaries of the events for which the 2010 nominees for the Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award were nominated. Candidates are presented in alphabetical order.
● Firefighter/Public Fire Education Coordinator Daniel Adams, City of Clinton (TN) Fire Department. On October 22, 2009, Adams was conducting a fire prevention program for Personal Protective Equipment Week at Grand Oaks Elementary School. He heard an announcement over the intercom stating that a 2½-year-old was missing. Adams began a search for the girl. After about 10 minutes, Adams realized there was a large creek in the woods. There he found the 2½-year-old floating faceup fully submerged in the water. She was unresponsive.
Adams immediately radioed dispatch and requested an ambulance and more help to the scene. Despite the fact that he did not know how to swim, Adams jumped the four-foot drop from the riverbank into the murky water, reached the little girl, and picked her up.
Adams updated dispatch and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the victim. His equipment on his truck included the automated external defibrillator (AED). Adams worked on the girl with no response until the ambulance arrived.
● Volunteer Lieutenant Joe Brown, Kentland-Prince George’s County Rescue Squad #833, Landover, Maryland. On April 8, 2009, just after 1 a.m., Prince George’s County firefighters were dispatched to a reported house fire. The first-due engine, with Firefighter Daniel McGown onboard, arrived and observed a car that was well-involved in fire in a covered carport.
The crew initiated an attack on the fire. Two of the three firefighters on the attack line reported being struck by a large, heavy object.
The crew members became disoriented and temporarily separated from each other when the ceiling, or some other object, came down. The crew members exited from the structure. McGown, separated from his other crew members, called for help prior to losing consciousness as a result of inhaling carbon monoxide and other toxic by-products of combustion.
Brown, the officer in charge of Rescue Squad 833, and another firefighter entered through the front door and initiated a search in high heat and low visibility. Brown, hearing the sound of a PASS device, followed the sound of the device and located McGown. Paramedics transported McGown to the Washington Hospital Center Burn Unit with serious burns to his face, hands, and respiratory tract.
● Firefighter/EMT Rob Brown, Wheat Ridge Fire Department, Centennial, Colorado. On November 21, 2009, as Rob Brown completed an all-day training class, the gongs went off. He responded to a possible structure fire with the smell of smoke. On arrival, nothing was showing. While Brown and his partner were searching, the room flashed over, and they became trapped in a fully involved fire. They were trying to find a way out. They heard the window break; they headed toward the noise. When they arrived at the window, it was still partially intact. They continued to attempt to break the window to escape. Eventually, the exterior crew pulled them through the window and framing.
● Sergeant Javish A. Collazo, Puerto Rico Fire Department. On October 23, 2009, at 12:30 a.m., Javish Collazo was awakened and shaken by the explosion at the Gulf Gasoline Facility. Collazo promptly arrived at the scene of the fire and was one of the first 12 responders there. He intentionally placed himself in an extremely dangerous situation during the first hours of the fire. He worked for about 14 hours on-scene and maintained contact with the safety officer until the last burning storage tank fire had been extinguished.
● Lieutenant James Collins, Cherry Hill (NJ) Fire Department. On November 11, 2009, at 0200 hours, Ladder Co. 4 was part of the initial assignment for a building fire with numerous reports of fire with trapped occupants. Collins and Firefighter Edward Micua entered the fire apartment to conduct a primary search. Collins located an elderly unconscious female and moved her to Micua, who was directed to remove her from the building. Collins continued to search for two children reported to be in the apartment (they later were found with their parents in another building). Collins continued until structural failure forced him to abandon the search. Ladder Co. 4 operated alone for four minutes. The search and removal were conducted in severe conditions, which were rapidly deteriorating.
● Firefighter Ronald M. Corsale, Fire Department of New York (FDNY). On October 11, 2009, at approximately 1720 hours, FDNY Ladder 16 was returning from a gas emergency when there was a dispatch for a person in distress in the river. The river was turbulent and moving quickly. The victim was midriver and was being carried swiftly in a southerly direction. Corsale donned an oversize cold-water rescue suit. After he was secured by a 200-foot lifeline, Corsale climbed over a six-foot fence and scaled down a 15-foot seawall; he realized he would have to swim quickly at a southeast angle to intercept the victim. When Corsale reached the victim, he tried to make verbal contact with him and pass him a buoy, but the victim was incoherent and unresponsive. Corsale had to maintain control of the situation by wrapping the buoy and himself around the victim. After signaling that he had secured the victim, he and the victim were pulled to safety.
● Firefighter/Paramedic Jason Durbin, Chicago (IL) Fire Department. On Sunday, December 13, 2009, at approximately 2 p.m., off-duty Firefighter/Paramedic Jason Durbin noticed smoke that appeared to be coming from the top floors or roof of a high-rise building ahead. He could see fire blowing out of what appeared to be the top floors of the 29-story residential high-rise apartment building. He asked his partner to have the department’s dispatch office report the fire. He then ran into the lobby and asked security and maintenance staff to show him the locations of the elevators and stairwells.
Durbin confirmed the location and floor of the fire and ran up the stairs. At the level of about the 18th floor, he met a man and his son coming down; they told him that a woman may be trapped on the 28th floor and that the smoke was coming from her apartment.
Durbin arrived on the 28th floor, stopped a moment to get his breath, and felt the hallway door before opening it. He slowly cracked open the door to view conditions in the hall. Thick black smoke filled the space from the ceiling down to about two feet above the floor, where it turned to dense gray.
He took a deep breath, entered into the hallway, and continued to crawl, searching the left side for 30 seconds; he allowed 15 more seconds to return and search the opposite side of the hallway. Crawling, he made his way toward the fire and soon came on a body lying in the hallway. He immediately dragged the victim back into the stairwell and closed the door. He hoisted the woman onto his back and carried her down the stairs, using the piggyback method. When he arrived in the lobby, he turned the victim over to the fire department ambulance crew for medical attention.
● Firefighter/Paramedic Rachael M. Edney, Prince George’s County (MD) Fire/EMS Department. While off-duty in neighboring Anne Arundel County, Edney rescued a drowning man in the early morning hours of February 1, 2000. According to witnesses, the disabled man had fallen into the water. A bystander attempted to rescue the man. A second witness ran to a nearby restaurant and alerted patrons to the situation. Edney ran to the end of the pier. jumped into the water, and helped him to the swim platform of a boat that was moored at the end of the pier.
● Captain Ronald Gilliam, Belmont (SC) Fire Department. On arrival at a working residential structure fire on July 25, 2009, Gilliam was notified that probably at least one civilian was trapped. His two crew members entered a heavily involved, double-wide mobile home and began a search. With heavy fire, the crew pushed on to hold the fire from reaching the areas in which the occupants were. Gilliam performed a 360° walk-around; he could see victim 1 inside the hallway of the home. He climbed into the window to rescue the victim.
As he traveled down the hallway, Gilliam came upon the victim. Gilliam removed his face piece to provide the victim with fresh air. Gilliam dragged the victim into the bedroom. Gilliam had also experienced what was described as possibly a “rollover.” He threw himself over the victim, to shield him from the direct heat and flames. Gilliam came across a female victim in the bathroom; he also dragged her into the safe haven of the bedroom and closed the bedroom door to cut off the fire travel. He transferred the victims to the exterior crews through the window.
● Captain Eric Hankins, Yuba City (CA) Fire Department. As Hankins was driving from home to the fire station mid-morning on January 13, 2009, he saw that smoke was coming from the eaves of a house. He reported that he was at the scene of a possible attic fire and requested a first-alarm response. The structure’s attic had been converted and could be accessed only from an exterior stairway. A woman began screaming that a child was trapped inside the burning house.
Hankins, wearing only his street clothes, opened the door to the apartment. He encountered very heavy smoke. He crawled approximately 15 feet inside the structure and heard a screaming child. Fire was engulfing the left side and starting to run across the ceiling; visibility was down to only six to 12 inches of the floor. Hankins found a three-year-old boy, sitting on the floor. He pulled the child down and carried him outside to safety and his mother. The mother was screaming that another child was trapped inside.
Hankins, once again, reentered the room to search for the second child. Flames now were rolling across the ceiling above his head. Heat buildup was significant. He made a thorough search and found a one-year-old girl back behind the bed, close to the wall. Hankins shut the door to slow the spread of the fire. He notified dispatch of the two rescues and asked for a second alarm. He then put on his personal protective equipment and remained on-scene until he was joined by the first-due engine company. He assisted with the fire attack.
● First Assistant Chief Raymond Germaine Jr. and Firefighter Thomas C. Kriklava, Hauppauge (NY) Fire Department. On the morning of October 5, 2009, at 0128 hours, the Hauppauge (NY) Fire Department was notified of a residential fire. Germaine, on the first-arriving unit, immediately transmitted a “working fire.” A civilian told Germaine that a person was trapped inside. Germaine made an attempt to enter the residence through the front door, but he was forced back.
Germaine then observed Kriklava on the overhang roof outside the second-story bedroom window. Germaine then climbed to the roof ledge. Kriklava, followed by Germaine, entered through the window of the front bedroom; the room had severe heat and smoke conditions.
Both firefighters entered the structure without an SCBA and other personal protective gear. Searching the front bedroom without a thermal imaging camera, they located an unconscious male victim lying facedown between the bed and the bedroom wall. They removed the victim through the second-story bedroom window.
● Firefighter II/EMT Anthony Helms, Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services, Acworth, Georgia. Truck 14 performed the following rescues on the night of September 20 and the morning of September 21, 2009.
Squad 4 was cut off by flood waters. The three Cobb Fire personnel and two victims were stranded on a small grove of trees.
On the way to assist, Truck 14 was redirected to a female on top of a car and in imminent danger. She was trapped on a bridge 100 yards away. After several failed attempts to reach the woman, the rescuers decided to use the rapid deployment craft (RDC) to go upstream above the victim and make their way across the current using the eddies behind the trees. The crew was able to move though the trees as planned. Helms grabbed the victim and pulled her onto the RDC. At this point, the crew was being redirected to another victim in dire circumstances.
Truck 14 then made its way to Squad 4’s location. On arriving on-scene, they could hear the victim over the noise of the water, screaming for help. The plan was to put the RDC in the water well above the victim, float downstream, and use the eddy behind the tree the victim was holding onto. The plan went well until the RDC reached the actual roadbed. As the RDC crew approached the victim, Helms and another crew member were flushed out of the craft. Helms was pushed down and under and became entangled in a strainer made up of a barbed-wire fence and multiple small trees. When he came to rest in the strainer, the RDC was then pinned across his face. Helms was able to reach behind himself and work his way up by pulling on the small trees against which he was pinned. Helms freed himself. As Helms unpinned the RDC, the other member had the victim put on a personal flotation device (PFD). Once the victim was on the RDC, Helms left the branch on which he was hanging and swam to the RDC. The crew then went downstream a short distance and eddied out on river right. They turned the victim over to the ambulance that was on-scene.
● Lt. Michael McCastland, Oak Lawn Fire Department, Lemont, Illinois. On May 13, 2009, at about 0318 hours, an automatic-aid engine company responded from the Village of Oak Lawn Fire Department to a report of an occupied house fire. On arrival, fire companies found a working fire in a two-story wood-frame residential duplex. The companies began systematic vent-enter-search operations and engaged in an aggressive fire attack and a primary search of both floors. As fire overwhelmed the stronghold the initial fire companies had gained on the fire, the incident commander (IC) ordered evacuation and commenced defensive fireground operations. Conditions in the two-story structure were completely untenable; there was no chance of survival for the occupants.
The IC soon discovered that a company officer from the Hometown Fire District was unaccounted for. The firefighter had become separated during the evacuation order. At this point, McCastland commenced an interior attack in spite of intense heat and zero visibility in a desperate attempt to locate the missing firefighter.
McCastland pressed his company in its mission. The missing firefighter was discovered in a fetal position in the corner of the fire room. McCastland grabbed the firefighter by his personal protective ensemble and removed him to the second-floor landing to the safety of his fire company.
● Firefighter Brian Moritz, Fire Department of New York. On June 27, 2009 at 0918 hours, Ladder 138 was assigned to respond to a building fire, with reported jumpers in the rear, in the Elmhurst section of Queens. After their arrival at the building, Moritz, who was assigned the outside vent position, began his perimeter survey. Moritz was confronted with a distraught civilian lying on the top of a small setback over the first floor. The civilian was screaming that her husband was trapped in their attic apartment.
Moritz decided to use civilian ladders that were on-site. He climbed up on top of the small setback, calmed down the hysterical woman, pulled a second ladder up onto the setback, and ascended the ladder up to the attic window, passing the flames emanating from the second-floor windows. On reaching the attic window, he donned his SCBA and entered the attic without the protection of a hoseline. Searching the attic alone, he found a 250-pound victim lying unconscious and immediately transmitted the information to his superiors. Knowing he was still operating alone, Moritz decided that the best way to remove the victim was to find the interior stairs and bring him down. The second-due ladder company assisted Moritz in carrying the victim down to the street, where he was turned over to EMS.
● Lieutenant Joel Rechlitz and Heavy Equipment Operator John Rechlitz, Milwaukee (WI) Fire Department. On July 19, 2009, at approximately 4:50 p.m., John and Joel Rechlitz, two brothers and Milwaukee firefighters, were at John’s home. The wives of John and Joel witnessed a tragic auto accident while out shopping: A 1992 Chevrolet Blazer had hit the curb, traveled on its side for about 100 feet, and burst into flames. A four-year-old boy, securely fastened in his booster seat, was trapped in the back seat. John’s wife called her husband, who was at home; he arrived on-scene with Joel. The boy’s mother was screaming, “My child is still in there … my baby is inside.”
The firefighters took turns at making multiple attempts to grab the boy out of his car seat through the windshield. They were not able to locate the seat belt release button that secured the boy. They both realized that they would need to cut the belt with a knife to remove the child. A bystander, fortunately, had a pocketknife and handed it to Joel, who reentered the burning SUV through the broken windshield and cut the seat belt. The firefighters carried the boy to a nearby island, removed his clothes, and hosed him down.
● Firefighter Jason Roberts, Pampa (TX) Fire Department. On February 6, 2009, at 1803 hours, the fire department arrived to find a three-year-old boy floating facedown in the water. The boy was about 50 yards off shore. A Pampa police officer and a family member had already attempted to rescue the boy but were unsuccessful. Roberts attempted to swim the 50 yards to the child. However, the frigid temperature of the water forced him to return to shore. Firefighters on-scene decided to use a backboard from EMS as a flotation device and a rope from Engine 1 as a safety line.
Roberts quickly volunteered to make a second trip into the numbing cold water. He laid the backboard on the water out in front of him and began the painful swim once again. Roberts reached the boy. He immediately lifted the child up and out of the water and turned him faceup. The team on the shore quickly pulled Roberts and the child to shore.
● Fire-Rescue Lieutenant Curtis Warfield and and Master Firefighter John Klavon, Bethesda-Chevy Chase (MD) Rescue Squad. On December 3, 2008, at 1327 hours, the first-arriving unit found a large two-story (plus basement) single-family residence with a large volume of smoke and fire coming from the rear of the house and thick black smoke coming from the open front door. The homeowner screamed that his three babies, two-year-old triplets, were upstairs in their cribs. The engine officer and one additional firefighter entered the house and broke out a window at the landing on the stairs with his gloved hand; that brought slight relief to the smoke conditions, but the fire was advancing up the stairs. He ran back down the stairs and grabbed the hoseline to attack the fire.
Warfield and Klavon arrived second due. They met heavy smoke and fire conditions on the first floor but were able to climb the stairs; they split up. Warfield located the room where the children were trapped in their cribs and called for his partner. As Warfield and Klavon tried to scoop up the children, they discovered that the cribs were covered with a fabric tent—a mesh covering the cribs to stop children from climbing out. They tried in vain to rip the tent open with their hands, but to no avail. They weighed the risk of taking off their gloves and decided it was critically important so they could remove tools from their pockets to cut open the crib tents. Warfield realized that the only chance of survival for the children was to rapidly remove them from the house, so he took one of the children and ordered Klavon to follow him down the stairs and out of the house with another child. They then attempted to reenter the house to rescue the third child, but they collapsed. The third child was rescued by other firefighters after Warfield and Klavon revealed his location.
The Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award will be presented during the FDIC 2010 Opening Ceremony on Wednesday, April 21, 8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m., in Indianapolis, Indiana.
MARY JANE DITTMAR is senior associate editor of Fire Engineering and conference manager of FDIC. Before joining the magazine in January 1991, she served as editor of a trade magazine in the health/nutrition market and held various positions in the educational and medical advertising fields. She has a bachelor’s degree in English/journalism and a master’s degree in communication arts.
