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BAYVILLE FIREFIGHTERS TO BE HONORED FOR VALOR, HEROISM
Five Firemen Saved Lives Inside A Burning House
By Bill McLaughlin
Five local volunteer firemen have been awarded National VFW awards for valor after saving a Corrigan Avenue resident from her burning home last January.
Stephen Kasper, W. Scott Andryca, Dennis Laureigh, Scott Schoenfeld and Brian Gunnigle of the Bayville Fire Company were chosen by a selection committee meeting in Kansas City earlier this month.
They will be recognized by the Township Council in three weeks. All five were presented with plaques when first lauded by the council in February.
"The VFW likes to recognize young people for putting their lives on the line in service to their community," said Don Marshall, former state VFW president in announcing the awards. "It's a comfort to the people of Berkeley that these volunteers are ready to serve us in our time of need."
Marshall said the award is given to only a few select nominees by a committee that meets only sporadically during the year. He said the circumstances make the nomination were compelling enough that the committee approved the nominees quickly.
The five men responded to a house fully engulfed in fire that night. When one firefighter climbed a burning stairway to make sure all occupants were out of the second floor, the stairwell collapsed and the fireman fell eight feet into the burning basement.
The other four fought through flames and smoke to make the rescue.
"The whole company deserves recognition," said Marshall. "By working together, they managed to save all the residents of the building and each other."
The fire company has had some close calls in the last few months, the latest almost two weeks ago at an apartment complex on Frederick Drive near Route 9.
A woman was severely burned in the incident, but survived because a neighbor, who happens to be the fire chief in Ocean Gate, and a visitor in a nearby apartment saw the flames and made the rescue.
In both cases, the fire company was able to contain the blazes in minutes and ensure neither spread to nearby units.
Bayville Fire Chief Ken Anderson said in February that the volume of training and hours of preparation for attacking fires pays off in the heat of the moment.
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