Firefighter Callahan - NJCU :: Professional Studies :: Fire Science - NJCU :: Professional Studies

Fire Science Senior Michael Callahan will be honored at the annual N.J. FMBA Valor Awards dinner on April 23,2011. Firefighter Callahan will be the recipient of Special Recognition in the Group Effort Award (Medical) and the EMS Award categories for acts going above and beyond the call of duty. Besides being a Fire Science major at NJCU, Firefighter Callahan is a career firefighter in the city of Linden, N.J. and also a reservist in the U.S. Air Force.

Firefighter/EMT Callahan along with five other Linden Firefighters will be receiving The Group Effort Award (Medical) for the reviving of an elderly man. In January of 2010, both engine and ambulance were dispatched to a call for an unconscious male. The engine company arrived first and began resuscitation efforts. Taking immediate action, the firefighters began to perform CPR and attached the defibrillator to him. Shortly, EMT personnel arrived and continued CPR efforts. Through their tireless efforts the man regained consciousness. Once they were able stabilize the man, he was then transported to Rahway Hospital.

Both FF/EMT Callahan and his partner will be recognized a second time with Special Recognition in the EMS category. In September 2010, FF Callahan and his partner were dispatched to a call for, “a woman in labor”. Quite often, these calls result in transporting the woman to the hospital. This time would be different. While en route to the call, dispatch updated them stating that “the woman’s water broke”. Upon arrival there was no time to waste. FF/EMT Callahan and his partner quickly grabbed their emergency bags including the OB kit and rushed into the home. Once inside, they were lead to the bathroom where a pregnant woman was about to give birth. Thinking quickly, FF/EMT Callahan and his partner reassured the woman, trying to relax and control her breathing as they prepared for the delivery. They instructed the woman to take a deep breath and push, and in no time, they welcomed a baby boy to the world. The newborn was then suctioned, cleaned and wrapped in a blanket. FF/EMT Callahan clamped and cut the umbilical cord and held blow-by oxygen to the newborn. Care continued for the mother and newborn infant until Medics arrived, when the mother and baby were then stabilized and taken to the local hospital.