Matt Gregorio
ANSONIA – Two Ansonia firefighters who saved a drowning man’s life in March received citations from the city on June 26 for their actions.
Matt Gregorio and Matt Casini were called to Coe Pond on March 22 with a report of a man in the frigid water. After changing into gear on the way to the pond, Gregorio and Casini took quick action to put on their wetsuits and decide roles – Gregorio would swim out into the water, toward the man, while Casini would man the rope near shore, ready to pull them both back in.
The rescue went off smoothly, with the man brought safely ashore and then turned over to EMS for follow-up care.
At the fire commission’s June meeting, Mayor David Cassetti presented the two men with citations for the rescue.
“Your selfless action displayed a conspicuous initiative, capability, and attention to duty,” Cassetti read from the citations as he presented them to the two men.
Speaking with The Valley Indy in city hall after the meeting, Gregorio – who returned to Coe Pond two weeks later to rescue another person from its banks – said he was just doing his job.
“We’re all volunteers, and this is what we’re expected to do for our community,” Gregorio said. “It’d be more of a thing if a person with no training jumped into action. That would be heroic, that would be mind-blowing, but this is what we volunteer to do.”
Matt Casini
Casini, a second-generation volunteer firefighter, thanked the city for the honor and credited the department’s training for the rescue’s success. He said that, in over twenty years at the department, this was his first cold water rescue.
Both men used the same phrase – “neighbors helping neighbors” – to describe the work they do.
The Valley Indy interviewed Gregorio in March after the initial rescue. Click here for that story.
Coe Pond, located near the border of Ansonia and Seymour, is fed by the Naugatuck River. At the time of the rescue, the water there was around 40 degrees – cold enough to kill – according to an estimate by Ansonia Fire Department Assistant Chief Anthony DeLucia.
Gregorio and Casini are both past captains in the department, with Gregorio formerly leading Eagle Hose Co. and Casini the Webster Hose Co.
