Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Every fall, nominations are solicited from the Aurora Fire Department for firefighters who demonstrated exemplary service during the preceding year. A committee of Exchange Club members then chooses the winners.
There were seven different nominations for the award, which went to Aurora Fire Department Lt. Chris Kjellesvik and Firefighter/Paramedic Doolin Galloway.
At 5:26 p.m. Nov. 20, 2016, Kjellesvik and Galloway, along with Firefighter Angelo Minneci, responded to a fire with a person trapped inside a home on the city’s near west side. Initially everyone got out of the home, but an elderly man re-entered the house in an attempt to rescue the family’s two dogs. He then was overcome by heavy smoke conditions and lost consciousness.
Kjellesvik and Galloway pulled a hoseline and entered the structure. They began to put out the fire and search for the man while Minneci supplied water. The man was found in a rear bedroom and was passed through the bedroom window to firefighters and paramedics outside. The man eventually made a full recovery.
For running into the house on fire and saving the man, Kjellesvik and Galloway were chosen as Firefighters of the Year by the Exchange Club.
thanks Dan
