By Patrick George
The Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — His grandfather’s career as a firefighter inspired Westlake High School senior Emmett Miranker to learn about firefighting and rescue techniques from a local volunteer fire department. It all came full circle just after Christmas, when he used what he learned to save his grandfather’s life.
Miranker, 18, was visiting 83-year-old Ken Curtis, a former Salt Lake City assistant fire chief, on a ski trip in Utah during the winter break. On Dec. 26, he was watching television when he got a frantic call from his mother to come into the kitchen and call 911. Curtis lay on the floor and looked dead, Miranker recalled.
“I checked his pulse and his breathing, and he didn’t have either,” Miranker said. He handed the phone to his brother.
Instinctively, his training kicked in.
For the past year, Miranker has been a part of Explorer Post 981, a group run by the CE-Bar Volunteer Fire Department in western Travis County. Members spend two hours each Sunday with firefighters learning how to rappel from high places, operate firefighting equipment and do first aid.
Miranker began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Curtis. He performed two full sets and then realized he needed to get his grandfather’s shirt off.
“I knew at that point he had to be defibrillated,” he said.
Miranker kept the CPR going until a police officer arrived. Soon after, paramedics arrived with a defibrillator. They shocked Curtis once. Nothing happened.
“That was when I started to get worried,” Miranker said. “I didn’t think before.”
After a second shock, paramedics got a pulse. A wave of relief washed over Miranker.
Curtis was hospitalized for 11 days and had to be treated for fluid in his lungs. Eventually, he woke up.
“The first thing he did when he was off his ventilator was cuss me out for breaking his ribs,” Miranker said.
Curtis is expected to make a full recovery.
The CE-Bar Fire Department gave Miranker the Phoenix Award on Sunday for his performance. The award is given to firefighters across the country who bring a person back from the dead, which is quite rare, said CE-Bar firefighter Kevin Coles.
“The criteria is you have to get (a victim’s) pulse back, then have them be successfully discharged from the hospital,” said Coles, who runs the Explorer program. “It’s rare because many people die at the hospital, even after you get a pulse.”
Miranker also received a letter of gratitude from the current Salt Lake City fire chief, Dennis McKone, expressing gratitude for saving his friend.
“It is hard enough to do lifesaving procedures on a stranger,” McKone wrote. “The fact that you were able to maintain the composure to do this for a family member speaks very well of your maturity and strength of character.”
Miranker will graduate in a few months and hopes to attend college. Wherever he ends up, he plans on being a volunteer firefighter, he said.
“I’ve kind of always wanted to help people,” Miranker said.
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