By Amanda Dolasinski
The York Dispatch
SHILOH, Pa. — After a young man bled through bandages from three medic units, Neil Irwin knew he had to figure out something else before the 18-year-old victim died in the middle of a traffic jam on Interstate 83.
The off-duty firefighter looked around the crash scene and grabbed a windshield wiper blade from the victim’s car. He worked with other emergency responders as they wrapped a makeshift tourniquet around his arm, tightening the bandage twist against the blade to finally stop the bleeding.
Irwin, 36, of Shiloh, is one of the Red Cross’ 2010 Heroes. He and the other 11
heroes in York and Adams counties will be honored at the annual awards breakfast Thursday.
“That’s what I do,” Irwin said from Shiloh Fire Co. Monday. “I don’t think of myself as a hero. That’s what I’m trained to do.”
Accident: Irwin and his partner Colby Snyder are career firefighters at Anne Arundel County Fire Department. They were leaving a training session in Maryland on June 16, 2009 when they were caught in a traffic jam on I-83 North.
Irwin said he and Snyder grabbed their medical kits and headed to the center of the traffic jam to investigate. It appeared a male driver heading south rolled his car over, was ejected and landed in northbound lanes, Irwin said.
Because he is a firefighter in Maryland, Irwin said, he has medical training. He and Snyder began assisting the young male driver, who was in and out of consciousness.
“It was a bad accident and his injuries were extensive, so that made it a little more challenging,” Irwin said.
Irwin stabilized the man’s head first. He continued to assess injuries and saw the man severed his brachial artery, which runs between the upper arm and elbow.
The brachial artery is one of the major blood veins in the body, and a person with that artery severed can bleed out within minutes, Irwin guessed.
In addition to Irwin and Snyder, Baltimore County Fire Department, city firefighters and two civilians worked as a unit to keep up with the severe blood loss, said Elise Armacost, spokeswoman for Baltimore County Fire Department.
"(Crews) did an extraordinary job working to save a critically injured 18-year-old man ejected from a car,” she said.
A medical helicopter flew the man to Shock Trauma in Baltimore, where he survived his injuries, Armacost said.
Learning daily: Irwin remembers assisting with the tourniquet the second one he’s ever applied.
“The way we applied it is not in any textbook,” he said. “You learn something every day. It’s the best job in the world. You make a difference everyday.”
Irwin has been a career firefighter with the Anne Arundel County Fire Department for three years. He is an assistant fire chief with Shiloh Fire Co., where he has volunteered for 22 years.
He lives in Shiloh with his wife, Angie, and 4-month-old son, Liam.
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