Eleven Akron firefighters and paramedics were honored in Columbus Wednesday for saving a life last December.
Lt. Ed Burns, Josh Anderson, Nick Corriere, Matthew Coleman, Dante Booker, Lt. Dave Ewers, Paul Devine, Cory Parson, Cory Hiltbrand, Thomas Yakubik and Lt. John Hart will all be honored during an EMS Star of Life Awards Ceremony Wednesday for their heroic actions on Dec. 18, 2015—when some of them entered a burning home and pulled a man through a window, saving his life.
On that day, firefighters were dispatched to a home on Marvin Avenue after hearing multiple reports that someone was trapped inside.
When firefighters arrived on scene they saw heavy fire coming from the living room, front porch and second floor. Lt. Hart quickly learned someone was in the bedroom, directly above the fully-engulfed living room.
Fire crews went into the bedroom through a window and found the victim—Zack Clements—on the floor.
Due to the intense fire, firefighters couldn't take him down the stairs. They were forced to set up two ladders outside the window and remove him that way.
Clements was unresponsive and barely breathing when they brought him down. After paramedics treated him with bag-valve-mask ventilation, capnography and inserted an IV he began to breathe on his own again.
The team is being recognized Wednesday for saving Clements—who has since fully recovered—from "certain death."
Also on Wednesday, another group of Akron firefighters rescued a man trapped for more than an hour from a burning apartment building.
