PATERSON – Police officers and firefighters rescued a man who was clinging to rocks in the Passaic River this morning in the Valley of the Rocks.
Authorities received a call about the stranded man around 6:05 a.m., Deputy Fire Chief Frank Calamita said. Police officers waded into the water and pulled him out around 6:30 a.m.
It’s not known how he got into the water but he was conscious when he was found, Calamita said.
Firefighters carried him up a rocky path to an ambulance. He was transported to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center.
“Due to the great job by the fire department and the police department, the guy was able to be retrieved safely,” Calamita said.
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.
