Grab with the Can!

Below was posted by Chief Ted Corporandy “Retired San Francisco Chief”

I would like to recognize and thank some incredible human beings. Last Sunday McCall, Idaho, suffered a very tragic explosion and fire in a home that resulted in the death of one of the occupants and another fighting for her life in the hospital. The actions by the McCall Fire Department were above and beyond what most citizens might expect. I would like to personally thank Firefighter/Paramedic Jon Metz and Firefighter/EMT Jason Beck who were riding the ambulance that day. They witnessed the mushroom cloud and immediately responded without waiting for a dispatch. As the first arriving unit they came upon a devastating scene, a home totally destroyed, exposure buildings damaged and involved and a fire consuming what was left of the house. They could hear someone screaming from inside the rubble and immediately went to work. Keep in mind, they are there on their own…no other units have arrived. They suit up, grab a pump can, the only protection they have for themselves and the victim, and crawl through a raging inferno of a partially collapsed home and down to the basement where they find the victim buried in debris. A secondary explosion occurred but the victim was shielded by these two brave individuals. They managed to dig her out and with great difficulty remove her to safety. These two gentlemen went way above and beyond the call of duty and risked their own lives to save another human being. The citizens of McCall are very fortunate to have such committed and devoted individuals like Jon and Jason as members of their fire department. Jon and Jason I am proud of you beyond words!

Jon and Jason, sorry if I embarrassed you. These are very humble guys and they did not know I was going to post this.

About Author

countyfiretactics

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.

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