EFD honors firefighters’ heroic actions with award ceremony

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Several Evansville firefighters were awarded today by the Evansville Fire Merit Commission for their response on runs this year.

Fire officials say these are in reference to three events, including a rescue in January at Kennedy Towers, a high angle rescue of a little girl in a tree in March and a medic run from the middle of May.

Rescue 1 Captain Larry Zuber free climbed the tree in May. He says while climbing trees is not in their training, he had no other option to rescue the girl safely.

“Free climb with the tree, that just had to happen,” he tells us. “Once I got up there and (saw) the conditions of the branches and the condition of the tree - again it was said in the meeting - in my thought process and in my experience, there were no way one of those branches was going to hold my weight as well as the victim.”

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