Members of Town of Salem Fire/Rescue, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and Flight for Life pose with Dolly Derrig and her sons Bryce and Aiden.
Town of Salem Fire/Rescue on Tuesday was presented with the Scene Call of the Year Award for 2015 by Flight For Life-McHenry Base.
The presentation was made at Salem Fire Station No. 1 in Trevor. The Flight For Life Transport System is provided by the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center and headquartered in Waukesha with bases in Waukesha/Milwaukee and Fond du Lac in Wisconsin and McHenry in Illinois. It transports patients to medical facilities via helicopter.
The award relates to a call from June 16, 2015. Bryce Potts, 5 at the time, had been severely burned after trying to pour gasoline on a backyard fire. Further complicating matters was that Bryce was undergoing chemo therapy for leukemia at the time of the accident.
Recognized for their roles in responding to the emergency were: Battalion Chief Mike Murdock, Capt. Mary Soehn, Capt. James Coppelman, EMT Kayla Shortess, Firefighter Kyle Tobias, Firefighter Marc Paulsen, Firefighter Jessica Damrow, Firefighter David Kersting, Joint Services Dispatcher Amanda Williams, Sheriff’s Deputy Terry Tifft, Sheriff’s Detective Tim Hackbarth and Flight for Life crew member Tom Bradtke.
Bryce had sustained second and third degree burns. He needed skin grafts almost everywhere he was burned, said his mother, Dolly Derrig.
But Bryce’s ability to heal from the burns proved to be remarkable. Expected to be hospitalized until September, Bryce was released in early July.
“I don’t know how I would have made it through that day without everyone’s help,” Derrig said.
The smooth teamwork of everyone, from dispatch to sheriff’s department to fire and rescue personnel to Flight for Life crew, was praised.
“That’s how we work, as a team,” said Chief Mike Slover.
“Everything just clicked,” said Bradtke. “That’s why we’re here presenting the call of the year award.”
Here is video of the various people involved that day telling their story, with Derrig talking near the end:
Congratulations to everyone involved in this incident….true TEAMWORK at it’s FINEST! It doesn’t happen without a lot of PRIDE, DEDICATION, and COURAGE, and untold hours of “behind the scenes” training to make it all happen. Chief Slover correctly pointed out the teamwork involved, and the Flight for Life crew recognized that “everything just clicked”. Sadly, it doesn’t always work out that way. But when it does, those department chest badges are just bursting with pride! Rightly so! Nice job!- Richard “BO” Bosanko-Battalion Chief-Retired-Kenosha Fire Department