The fall had come to station 51. Everyone was busy getting ready for the children going back to school and things settling down from the long hot summer that the city had just endured. The spirits were high and the men were busy doing their drills when Captain Stanley got a call from downtown. Sometimes the calls that came from downtown were not good, but this one was a good call. He hung up and smiled to himself, and he called one of his favorite paramedics into his office
Roy Desoto had been working with him and he liked him. Roy was a family man who cared deeply about his job. He asked Roy to take a seat and he then told him why he had been called into the office. "Roy you are going to receive a Life Saving Award from the city. There will be a ceremony in your honor and some other members of our community two weeks from this Saturday. It is for your life saving actions that you took last July when you saved that little girl from the burning car while you were off duty." he told him and with that he reached out and shook Roy's hand.
Roy did not know what to say. He and John had come upon many accidents where people were trapped in their car and he had acted on that day as he would have on any other occasion. He remembered the day well.
It was a very hot day and Roy had plans to spend the day with his family at a picnic. The picnic was going to be at his parents and everyone had been looking forward to the time together. The weather had been hot for days and his parents had an inground pool that they could all use and enjoy.
But his wife had wanted to bring something to the picnic and she had found that she was out of salad dressing for the potato salad. Roy had volunteered to head out to the store and get something. The store was not far from his home and he had headed down the street. That is when he saw a car on it's roof. There were people all around trying to help the lady that was trapped inside, but they did not have the tools or the knowledge that he had to help the people who were trapped inside.
To top it off there was gasoline spilling and he knew that time was of the essence. Before he could get to the fire extinguisher that he always carried in his truck the flames started. Roy without thought or worry for his own life broke the drivers side window of the car and pulled the woman out. She was screaming that her little girl was in the back seat.
Once again with no thought for himself Roy ran over to the car and while one of the bystanders sprayed the fire the best he could with the fire extinguisher Roy went once again inside the burning vehicle and managed to find the little girl. She was unconscious and still buckled in her seat belt. Roy was very hot and he could not get the buckle to unlatch. He reached in his pocket and got out his jackknife. With that he cut the seatbelt and managed to pull the little girl out.
Roy had just gotten the little girl not twenty feet from the car when it exploded. He had laid across the little girl to protect her and then went into his paramedic mode. He did not have his equipment, but he did have his knowledge. He listened to her respiration and also took her pulse. He loosened all of her clothing. Just then he had seen the paramedics arrive on the scene and they took over for him.
The lady had come by the station with her little girl Anna to thank him personally. "I am going to see to it that you get an award for your acts of heroism. If it had not been for you neither I or my little girl would be here. Thank you so much." she had told him. She had smiled at all of the men at the station and told them once again what a hero he had been.
Roy is a quiet man who genuinely cares about people and was kind of embarrassed by the thought of receiving the reward. John Gage and him had been partners for a long time and together they had done the same kind of thing many times before. He thanked Captain Stanley and went out into the station to find his partner Gage and tell him what had just happened.
John was sitting in his favorite chair going over some new equipment that he had found in a magazine. There was an excellent article in it about a new piece of life saving equipment that they might be able to use on a victim who was choking. He showed Roy the article and then said "What did the captain want?"
"Do you remember the lady and the little girl that I pulled out of the burning car last July? Well they are giving me the Life Savings Award two weeks from now. I don't think that I deserve it. You and I have done the same things many times before."
"Congratulations Roy. You do deserve the award. That lady and Anna would have surely perished if you had not been there. Have a good time at the awards. It is not my cup of tea. I don't like having to get all dressed up but it is worth it. You and your family go to it and be honored." John told him.
That Saturday night was a gala affair and many of Roy's friends came to support him for the award and all of the men that could come from Engine 51 were there also. Anna and her mother stood there with pride as Roy received the award. It was a night to remember.