By Rick Pfeiffer
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — For the crew working Falls Fire Department Engine 3 on Sept. 27, it was just a normal Saturday shift.
Until the alarm rang.
Fire Captain Bart DeRosa and Firefighters Tim Kennedy, John Scott and Matt Anderson were dispatched to a call of “unresponsive man.” The victim had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.
When DeRosa and his crew arrived at the Falls home, just four minutes after their alarm had sounded, they found the victim sitting in a chair. No pulse, not breathing, but his body was “warm.”
The firefighters laid the victim on the living room floor of the home and began to give him CPR. At the same time, the crew also attached defibrillator pads to the victim’s chest.
After performing CPR for several minutes, the firefighters’ automated external defibrillator (AED) alerted them, “SHOCK ADVISED.” They followed the prompt and delivered an electrical shock to the victim.
For the next 14 minutes, the Falls firefighters delivered an “alternating series of CPR” and six more AED shocks. For more than 20 minutes, the fighters fought to save the victim’s life.
Finally, DeRosa, Kennedy, Scott and Anderson registered a strong pulse from the victim. While the crew continued to administer “rescue breathing”, they loaded the victim onto a stretcher and he was rushed to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.
After treatment in the medical center’s cardiac intensive care unit, he recovered from his brush with death.
That wasn’t the end of the shift for the crew of Engine 3.
Just an hour later, the alarm rang again and the four firefighters were dispatched to another call for an “unresponsive patient.” This time, the victim was a woman, possibly an overdose victim.
The firefighters found the woman not breathing and with a faint pulse.
Once again, the firefighters began performing CPR and attached pads from an AED. After receiving a “SHOCK ADVISED” prompt, the firefighters delivered three jolts of electricity along with alternating CPR for more than 8 minutes.
After roughly 20 minutes of treatment, the woman regained a strong enough pulse to be taken to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. But that pulse was lost at the medical center, and the victim was pronounced deceased in the emergency room.
Saturday night, the crew of Falls Fire Department Platoon 1, Engine 3, Captain Bart DeRosa, and Firefighters Tim Kennedy, John Scott and Matt Anderson were each honored with the department’s 2024 Battalion Chiefs’ Award.
Their citations read: “Thanks to the hard work, quick decisiveness and training of the Engine 3 crew, they were able to save the life of one patient, and give another patient a real fighting chance at survival, all within less than two hours.”
Others honored at the annual NFFD Mutual Aid Association Firefighters’ Ball and Awards Dinner were Chief Mechanic Robert Meidenbauer, the Fire Chief’s Award for a demonstrated commitment to “keeping the fundamental values, traditions and principles of the fire service alive.”
Firefighter NeddaeVion Parmer received the Young Firefighters Award. Scott and Hawa Furman were honored for their work on the Falls Firefighters Christmas Toy Fund.
The Firefighters Local 714 Presidential Award was given to Firefighter Joseph Paul II. Officers Local 3359 gave its Presidential Award to Fire Captains Jason Cafarella and John Asklar.
The Mutual Aid Association Presidential Award went to Charles DelGobbo.
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