By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — For the first time, the FDNY’s annual Medal Day awards ceremony will be a family affair, with a firefighting father and son receiving separate honors for acts of unflinching heroism that occurred a month apart, the Daily News has learned.
During Wednesday’s ceremony at City Hall, Lt. Patrick Donlon of Engine Company 75 in the Bronx will receive the department’s most prestigious honor, the Chief of Department Peter J. Ganci Medal.
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At the same ceremony, Lt. Donlon’s father, Firefighter Timothy Donlon of Ladder Company 175, will receive the Thomas F. Dougherty Medal for “his courageous efforts” in dousing a massive blaze in East New York, Brooklyn.
The men’s heroic acts took place within a month of each other.
Wednesday will be the first FDNY Medal Day ceremony where a father and son were honored the same year, department officials said. The department will also be unveiling three new medals, including ones for fire dispatchers and members of the FDNY’s Bureau of Fire Prevention .
“I’m getting the full experience,” Lt. Donlon told the Daily News, realizing the milestone he and his dad have set for other FDNY legacy families. “I get to share the day with my father. That will be a cool experience on top of the award itself.”
Donlon and his crew were just returning from a job on Oct. 8 when they were alerted about another fire in a six-story building a few blocks away from their stationhouse.
The engine company raced to the location, where panicked civilians told the firefighters that people were still trapped in the third floor.
With a ladder company on its way, Lt. Donlon ran into the building to search for victims.
Entering the third-floor apartment, he found flames shooting out of a bedroom down the hall toward him.
Despite the growing fire, Donlon “quickly scanned down the hall toward the bathroom and second bedroom with a thermal imaging camera and saw what appeared to be legs on the floor,” the department noted.
“He made a calculated, aggressive decision to quickly pass under venting fire, where he came upon an unconscious adult victim,” the department said. “Using all of his strength and using his body to shield the victim from the flames, Lt. Donlon removed the victim back through the apartment and out to the public hallway.”
Once he handed the patient off to another team, Donlon joined his firefighters in putting out the fire.
“Lt. Donlon put himself at great personal risk while operating alone at this fire, crawling past an uncontrolled fire to rescue an unconscious civilian,” the FDNY noted in naming him a recipient of the Ganci Medal. “(He) has undoubtedly upheld the highest traditions of the FDNY, for which he receives the top operations award.”
Donlon chalked up the daring rescue to a perfect mixture of instinct and training.
“I didn’t really think — I just went in,” he said of the raging blaze. “Once I got in there, I relied on my training and the people that worked around me. It was definitely a team effort.”
Lt. Donlon comes from a long line of firefighters stretching back to his late grandfather Lt. James McCarthy, who retired from FDNY Marine 1 and was an FDNY Medal Day recipient in 1972. He also has a couple of uncles and cousins working in the department.
His dream of becoming a firefighter started at a young age as he watched his father Timothy suit up for work and visited his dad’s stationhouse when he didn’t have school.
“Growing up it was something I always had on my mind,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to join the Fire Department since I was a little.”
About a month after his son’s heroic rescue, Firefighter Timothy Donlon, Ladder Company 175’s “Can Man,” raced into a burning Brooklyn building.
As he, his lieutenant and another smoke eater entered the apartment where the fire occurred, Firefighter Donlon “immediately moved toward the seat of the fire in the rear, armed with only a portable extinguisher,” the FDNY said.
“With flames rolling overhead and heat intensifying, he aggressively knocked back the fire, holding it in check and creating critical time and space for (his teammates) to search for victims,” the department noted.
As he advanced deeper into the apartment, the elder Donlon located an unconscious person and, “demonstrating exceptional composure and determination,” lifted the victim out of the burning room to safety.
“Even while carrying the unconscious civilian, Firefighter Donlon continued to operate his extinguisher, shielding his fellow members from the advancing fire as they completed their search,” the FDNY said.
When reached Tuesday, a humble Firefighter Donlon declined to talk about his save, preferring instead to focus on his son.
“Thank God, the person lived,” Firefighter Donlon said about the resident he rescued. “But I’m not the type of guy to talk about (awards).”
“I just couldn’t be prouder of my son,” he said of his boy receiving the Ganci Medal. “It’s going to be a good day for him. Then it’s back to work.”
New medals being offered at Wednesday’s ceremony will be the Commissioner Robert S. Tucker Fire Dispatcher Medal, which will be given out to dispatchers who follow the department’s “highest traditions of excellence,” and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Memorial Medal, for deserving members of the Bureau of Fire Prevention Special Inspections Unit.
This year’s awardees from the Bureau of Fire Prevention are Chief Inspector Joseph Rogers, Deputy Chief Inspector Jose Martinez and Supervising Inspector Steven Beras, who discovered and helped shut down an illegal medical facility in Queens.
The Fire Dispatch Medal, named after former Fire Commissioner Tucker, is awarded to Brooklyn dispatcher Scott Hanratty, who helped a woman and her mother trapped in a burning building by keeping the woman on the phone call and pinpointing her exact location for responding firefighters.
The FDNY has also renamed an existing medal to honor Lt. John H. Martinson of Engine Company 249, who died while battling a blaze inside a Brooklyn high-rise on Jan. 8, 2008 . The medal in “Johnny Nice Guy’s” honor will be given to “a member of the department who performs an act of outstanding bravery and courage,” the department said.
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