{"id":1317418,"date":"2019-12-26T10:04:02","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T17:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=992093"},"modified":"2019-12-26T10:04:02","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T17:04:02","slug":"grand-valley-firefighters-honored-for-life-saving-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/grand-valley-firefighters-honored-for-life-saving-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Valley firefighters honored for life-saving efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Firefighters who helped save the life of Michael Murphy, center, in September stand together at a recent ceremony honoring them. Photo courtesy of Lynn Shore<\/strong>
FirefightersSave01<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Sixty-five-year-old Michael Murphy\u2019s heart stopped Sept. 5.<\/p>\n

Collapsed in the entryway of his home about six miles southeast of Parachute, Murphy was oblivious to the Grand Valley Fire Protection District (GVFPD) firefighters at his side racing against the clock to resuscitate him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe call came in at 10:59 p.m.,\u201d GVFPD Deputy Fire Chief Chris Jackson said. \u201cOur crews were dispatched to a male patient having trouble breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three vehicles \u2014 a fire engine, ambulance and utility support truck \u2014 transporting eight dual-role firefighters, trained in both fire suppression and emergency medical response, departed immediately from two separate fire stations \u2014 each about 15 minutes from Murphy\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

\u201cBreathing difficulty is a fairly common call type,\u201d GVFPD Firefighter-Paramedic Cody Reece said. \u201cWe don\u2019t usually get a ton of information from the call. But when dispatch tells us the caller is asking how far out we are, we usually know it\u2019s serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The September night air was unseasonably warm and the roads were clear of snow, recalled Reece, the lead paramedic on the call.<\/p>\n

Dispatched from GVFPD Fire Station No. 32, Reece\u2019s fire engine was seconds behind the ambulance and utility truck dispatched from GVFPD Fire Station No. 31. <\/p>\n

When Reece arrived, his team was already unloading a gurney from the ambulance.<\/p>\n

Jackson said the firefighters had to react immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the crew are walking up to the (caller\u2019s) door, they see the patient in the doorway, and he collapses right in front of them,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cHe went into respiratory and cardiac arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, a healthy person\u2019s heart can be stopped for about 10 minutes without resulting in long-term damage to the vital organ, he explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe crew immediately puts him on the stretcher and began cardio pulmonary resuscitation,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cOnce they got him into the ambulance, they began advanced cardiac life support \u2026 and within six minutes, they were able to get (Murphy\u2019s) pulse to return.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Dec. 14, Murphy \u2014 still healing after a month-long hospital visit \u2014 presented each of the crew with the GVFPD Life Saver Medal of Honor at the district\u2019s holiday ceremony for their actions on Sept. 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably the biggest honor of my life,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cIt was extraordinary to be there \u2014 alive \u2014 and meet the people that saved my life.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018Train, train, train\u2019<\/h2>\n

Not every call ends well.<\/p>\n

\u201cProud,\u201d Reece said, recalling the emotion he felt when presented the award. \u201cI was proud. It\u2019s encouraging to know that I\u2019m fully capable of that \u2014 even though that\u2019s not something I usually doubt. Sometimes you have a few negative outcomes, and you spend months mulling every little detail, wondering if there was something you could\u2019ve done to make it turn out differently.\u201d <\/p>\n

With 12 years in the career, Reece said in situations like Murphy\u2019s, firefighters are often operating on muscle memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get on scene and be told the patient just went down, you go from figuring out your next steps to making lightning-fast decisions about what needs to happen,\u201d he explained. \u201cIn incidents like that, we\u2019re operating on our lowest level of training.\u201d <\/p>\n

Each day on shift, firefighters spend hours training for scenarios where failure means the difference between life and death.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrain, train, train,\u201d Reece said, \u201cso that when you do have to make those decisions, that training makes it easier to integrate as a crew and have everyone fall into their roles.\u201d <\/p>\n

As district supervisor on Sept. 5, Spaid not only personally oversaw the firefighters\u2019 response to Murphy\u2019s residence, but also ensured the district\u2019s resources could respond to simultaneous calls if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a mixed batch that night,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a newer member on the crew and had just spent the whole day running cardiac arrest scenarios with her, so it was awesome to see that training reinforced that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Good for the crew\u2019<\/h2>\n

Signing on as a first responder isn\u2019t about winning awards, but recognizing firefighters\u2019 efforts is important for morale district-wide, Spaid said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all honesty, we don\u2019t usually get to hear about the outcome of a call,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt was good to hear the positive outcome. It was good for the crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spaid said he entered the fire service in 2001 because of a sense of civic duty and a desire to work in a fast-paced environment. <\/p>\n

\u201cI like to help the community, and I like to see people smile,\u201d he said. \u201cI like the nature of the service \u2014 it\u2019s always changing. It challenges my brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reece said he took the job because it provides the opportunity to learn something new every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, they let me play with million-dollar fire trucks,\u201d he added, excitedly. \u201cHow cool is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dec. 14 ceremony was not only a celebration of the firefighter\u2019s efforts, but a chance to include their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy 13-year-old was pretty ecstatic \u2014 she was pretty proud of dad, which in turn makes dad pretty proud,\u201d said Reece, a father of three, adding with a chuckle, \u201cMy six year old just wanted to know if he could wear the medal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson said he created the award ceremony after being promoted to Deputy Chief in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our second year doing this,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe awards are peer suggested throughout the year, and myself and the chief review those suggestions before making our final selections.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Murphy, it was an opportunity to thank the men and women responsible for giving him \u201ca new lease on life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be given a second chance is pretty amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cI owe it all to them, and I plan to spend my days doing all the things I could never find time to before.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Firefighters who helped save the life of Michael Murphy, center, in September stand together at a recent ceremony honoring them. Photo courtesy of Lynn ShoreFirefightersSave01 Sixty-five-year-old Michael Murphy\u2019s heart stopped Sept. 5. Collapsed in the entryway of his home about six miles southeast of Parachute, Murphy was oblivious to the Grand Valley Fire Protection District […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1317418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-01 05:35:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}