Big Bear Lake, CA — Five members of the Big Bear Lake Fire Department were honored last week, as recipients of the Lifesaver Ribbon for heroic efforts that resulted in the resuscitation of a man who was, per Assistant Fire Chief Mark Mills, clinically dead. In October of last year, Firefighter/Paramedics Jeff Schwing and Jonathan Barbour, Engineer Ken Peterson, Firefighter David Jayne and PCF Brian Geary responded to an incident in which a person was found lying unconscious in the parking lot of a local restaurant; the paramedics recognized the patient’s condition as full cardiac arrest and, by means of medication, CPR and defibrillation, the five fully resuscitated the individual. In a presentation before the Big Bear Lake Fire Protection District Board, Fire Chief Rod Ballard presented the Lifesaver Ribbon to Schwing and Barbour; though not present at the January 13 ceremony, Peterson, Jayne and Geary were also recognized. The Big Bear Lake Fire Department responded to 1,745 calls for service in 2009 and, of those, 73% of the requests for service were medical aid calls. In other firefighter news, Paramedic Jonathan Uribe completed his probation, and was presented with his symbolic axe from Chief Ballard.
