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Emts Lauded for Glendale Rescue

Earn Medal Day Honors For Saving Three Lives

Two paramedics who saved the lives of three people after the car they were riding in became trapped in the flooded Cooper Avenue underpass in Glendale last August were among those recognized for their valor at the Fire Department’s Medal Day ceremony last Wednesday, June 5.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano stand with various recipients of high honors distributed during the Fire Department’s Medal Day last Wednesday, June 5.

EMTs Marilyn L. Arroyo and Jimmy M. Guailacela of Station 46 each received the Christopher J. Prescott Medal-the Fire Department’s second-highest honor for a paramedic-for the Aug. 15, 2012 rescue at the underpass, which became flooded with several feet of water following a heavy thunderstorm.

Reportedly, the driver of a sedan and two passengers became trapped in unsuccessfully attempting to pass through the submerged roadway. According to the Fire Department, Arroyo and Guailacela arrived at the scene and noticed the victims in distress as the flood waters rose around the car.

Guailacela reportedly waded into waist-deep water to the car as Ar- royo-whom the FDNY described as a poor swimmer-followed from behind. Arroyo then scaled a fence on the underpass wall and accessed the top of the trapped vehicle.

In recognition of their efforts to save the lives of three people who became trapped in a car at the flooded Cooper Avenue underpass in Glendale on Aug. 15, 2012, Emergency Medical Technicians Marilyn Arroyo and Jimmy Guailacela received the Christopher J. Prescott Medal during the Fire Department’s Medal Day ceremony last Wednesday, June 5. Arroyo is pictured in the top photo, and Guailacela is pictured in the bottom photo, flanked by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano and family members and friends.

The two paramedics worked quickly to pull the three victims out of the vehicle just before it became completely submerged in the flooded underpass.

Arroyo and Guailacela were presented with the Prescott Medal by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano during last Wednesday’s ceremony at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan. Also honored at the event were seven fire officers, 28 firefighters, two Emergency Medical Service members, six additional paramedics and EMTs, a fire marshal and three Fire Department units.

Many other honorees at Medal Day were recognized for their efforts to save lives during Hurricane Sandy last October. They included firefighters from FDNY units stationed in the Rockaways and Staten Island-as well as off-duty FDNY members residing in the storm-ravaged communities- who responded to residents in distress at the height of the disaster.

“Each year at this time, we pay tribute to the bravest of our Bravest and honor their exceptional acts of valor, exemplifying the finest traditions of the FDNY,” Bloomberg said. “This year, we take particular note of firefighters and emergency medical services personnel who put themselves in harm’s way to save others during the worst storm in our recorded history, Hurricane Sandy.”

“Every single day, at incidents across the city, FDNY members demonstrate why the department sets the standard for firefighting, pre-hospital medical care and all hazards response,” Cassano added. “But no one day in the past year better demonstrated how important the department is to the people of new York than on Oct. 29, 2012, when Hurricane Sandy struck the city like no other storm ever has before. Every working FDNY member, and many off-duty members, was fully engaged in response to the unprecedented storm, demonstrating again and again why they are rightly called the Bravest.”

Among the other local Fire Department employees recognized on Medal Day include the following:

– Firefighter Michael R. Ober of Ladder Co. 124 on the Ridgewood/ Bushwick border in Brooklyn received the Lt. James E. Zahn/Lt. Peter L. Troiano Memorial Medal for helping to rescue two adults and one child from a burning home on Himrod Street near Wyckoff Avenue- close to the company’s headquarters-on the morning of Jan. 17, 2012.

While battling the four-alarm inferno, Ober spotted an adult and child inside a window on the third floor and quickly positioned the ladder bucket to the location. He then climbed up the ladder, broke through a window guard and reached the two victims.

After lowering them down to safety in the bucket, Ober then returned to the third floor via the ladder and searched the apartment. He found another adult and pulled him to safety. Ober returned to the apartment a third time and quickly escaped after learning the fire grew to a point where he was in danger.

All three victims survived with minor injuries.

– Firefighter John G. Friedrich of Squad Co. 288 in Maspeth was presented with the Arthur J. Laufer Memorial Award for rescuing two Con Edison workers who became trapped on a disabled scaffold on Nov. 19, 2012 while working on a former power plant in Astoria that was damaged during Hurricane Sandy. Reportedly, the scaffold was located 120 feet above the ground.

After being harnessed by his fellow firefighters on the roof, Friedrich descended 80 feet down the side of the building to reach the two victims. He strapped harnesses on each of the victims and the firefighters on the roof pulled each of the workers to safety.

– Fire Marshal Martin J. McHale was posthumously awarded the Deputy Commissioner Christine R. Godek Medal for his investigative work that led to the arrest of two individuals who intentionally set fire to a Richmond Hill home early on the morning of July 23, 2011.

As previously reported, the two suspects-identified by the FDNY as Imran Ali, 23, and Devindra Ramnaryan, 21-allegedly committed the arson at a home on Liberty Avenue near 123rd Street after they believed someone had thrown rocks at them from the roof of the location. They reportedly broke into the home, walked to the second floor landing and used an accelerant to start the fire.

Two people suffered injuries as a result of the blaze.

Both Ali and Ramnaryan are currently awaiting trial. McHale died on Dec. 24, 2012 from injuries sustained in a car accident.

– Lt. Jason M. Ronayne of Battalion 53 received the Steuben Association Medal for his efforts to save the life of an elderly man who was trapped in an apartment fire in Corona on Dec. 11, 2011. Ronayne was detailed at Engine Co. 324 in Corona for the early morning shift when the fire broke out.

In searching the premises while the fire was still in progress, the lieutenant was informed of an elderly man still inside the location. Facing intense heat and smoke and without a water line behind him, Ronayne entered the victim’s apartment and helped pull him to safety.

The victim was treated for various injuries including second- and thirddegree burns.

Editor’s note: Information on the honored firefighters was obtained from the FDNY’s Medal Day book, which can be viewed online at www.nyc.gov/fdny.