Firefighters, citizen honored for saving lives
Firefighter Steve De Pue was off-duty and working in his garage when he heard his neighbor's smoke detector shriek.
De Pue went into the neighbor's smoke-filled garage. Flames were beginning to engulf the kitchen, and he could hear a woman's voice in the house.
He found an extinguisher and doused the blaze, then escorted the woman outside.
De Pue was among the dozen Clark County firefighters who received awards Tuesday for valor beyond the call of duty.
"It's really important that we recognize some of our employees when they go above and beyond, when they do things that are special," Fire Chief Bertral Washington said.
Tim Garcia, who is a Lowe's manager, earned the Citizen Lifesaving Award for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a co-worker who collapsed from a heart attack at the store on Nellis Boulevard.
The employee is now recovering at University Medical Center.
The annual awards ceremony was held at the new Fire Station 33 off Desert Inn Road. County Commissioners Chris Giunchigliani, Tom Collins and Steve Sisolak each presented an award.
Sisolak, a staunch critic of firefighters' compensation, said after the ceremony that he wanted to show he supported the job that firefighters do even as he seeks to rein in labor costs.
Firefighter Matt Houchens and Capt. John Borla also received a lifesaving award. The two men were off-duty and working out at a local gym when a patron fainted.
They grabbed the gym's defibrillator and resuscitated the man, then performed CPR.
The distinguished service award went to crews at Station 12 and 15, led by Capts. Paul Youdelis and Steven Broadwell. They rescued a woman from the second floor of a burning building, risking their lives to save hers.
"The action they took that day should be recognized as exceptional," Deputy Chief Girard Page said. "Firefighters have a dangerous job. We understand that. But they really pulled it together, and it was a critical time."
Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.
