Thursday, August 19, 2010
BELLEFONTE — When firefighters from the Logan and Undine fire companies pulled up to the Cadillac Building around 1 a.m. Dec. 22, they could see people hanging out windows, screaming for help as flames surrounded them.
The Bellefonte Fire Company will be honored Friday for its response to the Cadillac Building fire in December.
“It ranks up there with one of the scariest moments,” said Bellefonte Fire Chief Fred Bruno. “As soon as I got there, it was a bad situation. From the time it was dispatched from alarm bells in the building, to flames shooting out the third story window, as soon as I made the turn to come across the Diamond, I was like, ‘This ain’t good.’ ”
It was three days before Christmas, and most of the residents in those 18 apartments lost everything. But none of them lost their lives, thanks to firefighters who rescued many who were trapped.
“It’s dark, you’ve got flames shooting out the window into the street and it’s spreading fast,” Bruno said. “You have people out the windows yelling because they couldn’t get out the hallways.”
For their work, the Bellefonte Fire Company is receiving the Medal of Valor on Friday from the Central District Volunteer Firemen’s Association.
“It’s about all the guys,” Bruno said. “Every one of them deserves it. It was a group effort.”
The company is one of seven award recipients from the 23-county area served by the organization. Four award recipients are civilians and two are firefighters. Bellefonte Fire Company will receive the only companywide award. All were nominated based on lifesaving acts that go beyond the call of a volunteer.
The Bellefonte company previously received the award in 2004 for its response to a 50-vehicle pileup on Interstate 80 that killed six people and shut down the highway for several hours. The Howard Fire Company is also a past Medal of Valor recipient.
See the whole story here: http://www.centredaily.com/2010/08/19/2159249/bellefonte-firefighters-to-be.html
