EMS Lieutenant Curven Williams was appointed to EMS on August 30, 1967. Assigned to Station 39. Previous assignments
include Stations 35, 58, 46 and 50. Recipient of numerous pre-hospital saves. Resides in Brooklyn with his wife,
Sharon, daughter, Armeeca, and sons, Duron and Damon.
Paramedic Walter Hochbrueckner was appointed to EMS on
October 31, 1988. Assigned to Station 39. Recipient of an insignia for service at the World Trade Center and numerous
pre-hospital saves. Served as an Operations Specialist, First Class, with the U.S. Navy. Resides in Mineola, Long Island,
with his wife, Kim, daughter, Alyssa, and son, Timmy. |
Paramedic Walter Hochbrueckner
was at Station 39 at about 8:30
p.m., on December 21, 2006,
speaking with his supervisor, when a
man entered the station and hysterically
screamed that there was a fire three
doors down from the ambulance station.
While Lieutenant Jeff Halpern
called the Brooklyn Dispatcher to
advise of the fire, Paramedic
Hochbrueckner raced out the door, followed
by Lieutenant Curven Williams.
Many older residences in
Brooklyn look like solid stone from
the outside, but, in fact, are wood
frame, non-fireproof structures with
masonry facades. The apartments are
long and narrow, one to each floor.
These homes are tinderboxes that can
convert small fires to large blazes in
just a few minutes. Paramedic
Hochbrueckner, trained 20 years ago
in the U.S. Navy as a firefighter,
stopped briefly in front to assess the
conditions. Heavy smoke billowed
from the basement windows of the
two-story building.
With no fire suppression units onscene
and without any protective gear,
Paramedic Hochbrueckner bounded
up the outside stairs and entered the
first-floor hallway. He yelled and
pounded on the apartment door, alerting
the residents to the fire.
Proceeding up another flight, he then
evacuated the residents of a secondfloor
apartment. Lieutenant Williams
assisted the residents as they left the
dangerous situation for the street,
where they were treated for smoke
inhalation.
On the sidewalk, one resident
alerted the medics to an older man
who lived in a basement apartment
where the fire was roaring. With no
direct access to the basement from
outside, Paramedic Hochbrueckner
and Lieutenant Williams again entered
the building. This time, they proceeded
downstairs and forced the door to
the basement apartment. Fighting
intense heat and heavy, acrid smoke,
Paramedic Hochbrueckner searched
the apartment before they retreated
back out to the street.
For risking their personal safety to
twice enter a burning residence to
assure the safety of their neighbors,
Lieutenant Curven Williams and
Paramedic Walter Hochbrueckner are
awarded the Jack Pintchik Medal.--
JPM |
