FLINT, MI — Flint firefighters rescued two children late Wednesday night, March 19.
The girls – ages 5 and 10 – were trapped in a second floor apartment at Grand View Manor, 2310 Robert T. Longway Blvd., in Flint while a fire broke out on the first floor just before 11 p.m.
Flint Station One firefighters Brad Ortwine and Alex Dunn busted a second-floor window out to save two girls, said Battalion Chief Ray Barton.
“When they got the first child out, they handed her down to me,” Barton said. “That was the 10-year-old, and she was alert and hollering about her sister. The second one, the five-year-old, she was not alert and she had a lot of soot around her nose and mouth. She had taken in a lot of smoke, so we were worried about her.”
The girls were transported to Hurley Medical Center, where paramedics reported they were alert and talking.
Residents of the apartments stood outside police tape, thanking the firefighters for their heroism.
“We appreciate it, but any one of us would have done it,” Ortwine said as he walked with Dunn to meet back up with their crew.
All three Flint Fire stations working Wednesday night responded: Stations one, five and six. Flint Fire Marshall and Arson were on scene investigating the cause of the blaze, which was not determined
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
