An NBC employee who was working along the lakefront helped rescue a man who jumped into the water early Sunday on the North Side.
David Marshall was at North Avenue Beach about 3:50 a.m. shooting pictures of icy waters when he saw a man thought to be in his 40s or 50s walk by wearing “nothing but a t-shirt.”
“He was talking to himself and I asked if he is OK,” Marshall told reporters at the scene. “He just gives us a blank stare.”
Marshall said the man eventually made some sort of statement, faced the lake and jumped in.
Once he jumped in, Marshall informed his coworkers and threw a rope to the man, who held on to it and stayed above water until rescue workers arrived.
The Chicago Fire Department and city’s Marine Unit soon responded pulled the man out of the water, authorities said.
Marshall said his coworkers became concerned for the man and called police before he jumped into the water.
The man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where his condition had stabilized.
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.
