Three Lafayette firefighters recognized with Lifesaving Award

LAFAYETTE, Ga. (WDEF) — Three Lafayette firefighters recently received recognition with a Lifesaving Award.

Those three firefighters are Lt. Michael Cook, FAO Proctor and FAO Charlie Murray.

Lt. Cook was involved in two separate lifesaving incidents.

First Incident

On October 4, Cook and Proctor saved a woman who was choking on food and unresponsive.

They used a LifeVac choking device to clear her airway, which was 100% blocked. It took three tries to unblock her airway.

Cook and Proctor then placed her on high flow oxygen, and she became responsive.

Proctor and Cook / Lafayette Fire Department

Second Incident

On October 17, Lt. Cook and FAO Murray were on duty when a person drove up to the fire station with an unresponsive man.

The firefighters saw that the man was in full cardiac arrest and called for an ambulance.

They then got the man out of the car and began CPR. He had no pulse at this time.

They used an AED, high flow oxygen and Narcan on the man. He started improving at this time.

Then EMS arrived and took him to a hospital. Murray stayed with the man to continue lifesaving efforts during the ambulance ride.

The fire department said the man had a strong pulse and was breathing when they got to the hospital.

Murray and Cook / Lafayette Fire Department

Assistant Fire Chief Stacy Blalock made this statement on Cook, Murray and Proctor’s actions:

“[Their] quick response, recognition of the severity of the medical emergency, immediate actions and effective use of the medical device resulted directly in saving the life of the [person]. A failure to act or inappropriate actions could have led to a tragic outcome.”