Milford firefighters honored

By NOELLE FRAMPTON
Staff writer
ConnPost Article Launched: 10/31/2008 10:12:00 PM EDT

MILFORD -- Rescuing a capsized boater from the waves of Long Island Sound, delivering twins, saving a neighbor's house by squelching his porch fire, and crawling into a wrecked car in an effort to help three teens trapped inside.

These were among the actions this year for which firefighters were honored Thursday night at the annual Milford Fire Department awards ceremony at City Hall.

A whole unit of firefighters was commended for delivering premature twins on Jan. 2 at a 28 Ellis St. home. Lt. William Holveck and Firefighters Christopher Waiksnoris, Daniel Talaniec, Christopher Brown and Frank Murphy learned when they went to the home at 3:35 a.m. that the woman in labor there had a high-risk pregnancy.

She delivered sons 12 minutes apart, with help from the firefighters, according to Capt. Christopher Zak, department spokesman.

Firefighter Roger King was also commended for helping his neighbor, James Carriero, at 2 a.m. Feb. 5, while he was off-duty at home on a cold, windy night.

When Carriero alerted him to a blaze that raged on the deck of his 24 Londonderry Lane house, threatening to cause the gas grill to explode, King jumped into action.

Donning his firefighting gear and grabbing a 50-pound fire extinguisher, he stopped the fire from reaching the roof and saved the house, Zak said.

Firefighter Adam Hansen, a paramedic, received a Meritorious Service Award for squeezing himself into the front passenger side of 17-year-old Shawn Foley's car after it crashed into a utility pole on Feb. 11 outside the Westfield Connecticut Post mall.

At risk to his own safety, Hansen did a quick trauma assessment, saw that the three crash victims' injuries were life-threatening and started life support while others worked to extricate the youths, Zak said.

The thirteen other firefighters who responded to the crash site were also commended for what Zak said was an extremely difficult extrication, even with help from the Jaws of Life.

Marine crew members Capt. Bernard Begley, Lt. Anthony Fabrizi and firefighters Carlos Rios and James DeVico were honored for navigating choppy, cold waters on Oct. 8 to rescue a man whose boat was leaking.

Others were recognized in the ceremony for reaching milestones in their time with the department.