3 Ark. FF-medics respond to medical emergency at Pierce Manufacturing

By Leila Merrill

FOX CROSSING, Wis. — Three Arkansas firefighter-paramedics were visiting Pierce Manufacturing in late February for a meeting about their department’s new fire engine when they suddenly responded to a medical emergency, WBAY reported Monday.

With others at the scene, Springdale Fire Chief Blake Holte, Assistant Chief Jim Vaughan and Captain James Kehrli helped perform CPR on Mike Lyle, Pierce’s director of manufacturing. The team also used an AED.

“We kind of hung with the process and provided extra hands all the way until they got loaded into the back of the ambulance and they were on their way to the hospital and we went back to work on our fire truck,” Holte said.

After they got home, they wanted to know how Lyle was doing, and Lyle sent them a video last week. In the video he said, “You are absolute heroes, and your grit and determination is certainly not lost on me.”

Lyle has been recovering at home.

The Springdale Fire Department truck should be ready in the fall.