The Connecticut Red Cross last week honored a group of Shelton firefighters who helped residents of a Howe Avenue fire last year and a Shelton veteran who began a program to deliver gift cards to troops and military groups.
Echo Hose Fire Co. 1 and Alfred Meadows were honored by the Red Cross at its 16th annual “Community Heroes Breakfast” Jan. 30 in Stamford.
Spirit Of The Red Cross — Echo Hose Hook & Ladder Co. 1
The work of Echo Hose Hook and Ladder Company 1 during and after a major fire on Howe Avenue in Shelton last January saved and changed the lives of people living in the multi-unit building. The 150-year old mixed-use building burned to the ground on a freezing winter night.
Echo Hose Captain Mike Plavcan recounted the events of that freezing night when the Shelton firefighters were dispatched near midnight on Jan. 5 for an activated alarm within a mixed occupancy building.
Upon arrival, units were alerted to a broken water pipe in the building, but soon after discovered a basement fire in one of the businesses. Heavy smoke billowed out of multiple apartments above the businesses. Multiple occupants were trapped inside the apartments.
A coordinated effort was made by all crew members to successfully evacuate a total of 28 residents. Five of those residents were directly rescued and the other 23 were assisted to safety within the first few moments of the rapidly progressing fire, which had spread throughout the walls and all floors of the building, speeded by the balloon-frame wood construction.
Shelton Firefighters and many mutual aid firefighters from nearby communities contributed significantly fighting the early morning fire, but the direct actions of the Echo Hose members kept a devastating fire from becoming a tragedy.
Plavcan said the quick, decisive and courageous actions of the Echo Hose members were instrumental in the survival of the trapped residents.
Following the massive blaze, the members of the Echo Hose began relief efforts for the victims displaced at the fire. The Howe Avenue Relief Fund was started after the firehouse was inundated with donations of food, clothes, gift cards and money to help the 28 people who were displaced.
Plavcan says the members of the Echo Hose Hook and Ladder “are very grateful to be nominated for this award.” He notes that, while the firefighters see the response as part of their work, they are nevertheless “very grateful to be nominated” for the award.
He says the Howe Avenue fire is one that the firefighters will not forget, “not because of how bad the fire was, but because of the tremendous outreach by the community” following the fire.
Click here to read more about the fire and the recovery effort.
Military Hero — Alfred Meadows
Alfred Meadows, of Huntington, is a U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart Medal recipient who served in both the Republic of Korea and Vietnam conflicts.
He is also the founder of “Operation Gift Cards,” which has presented more than 17,000 thank you kits valued at more than $800,000 to wounded troops and military support groups.
Since October 2005, Operation Gift Cards volunteers have made 114 visits to wounded troops and their families at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. They have presented gift certificates from the “PX” military department store; donated goods, including Girl Scout cookies, refurbished laptop computers and corporate gift certificates; as well as specific “wish list” items requested by patients. Nearly 300 representatives from 70 co-sponsoring organizations have participated in the visits.
Although Meadows has been an advocate for veterans for more than 30 years, Operation Gift Cards is the largest and longest-running project he has been involved with. Meadows said he feels “honored and thankful” that Operation Gift Cards has received recognition.
He said the program has been the ongoing effort of not only an extremely dedicated committee, but also a group of 275 volunteers who have participated in the two-day trips to visit the wounded troops, as well as the thousands of individual donors, and the 70 organizations who have contributed funds and items.
These donations have been delivered to several facilities and partners at Walter Reed, including the Red Cross office there and have been distributed to many people, brightening their stay at the facility.
Click here for more information on the event from the Red Cross.
And click here for a Facebook photo album from the event.
