The Chicago Fire Department Foundation honored 17 Chicago Fire Department members for their acts of Bravery & Heroism.
2025 Firefighter Award of Valor
FF/EMT Anthony J Rouba, Jr and FF/EMT Omar Bucio
On the evening of December 31, shortly before midnight, Truck 49 responded to a report of a fire in the 7400 block of S. South Shore Drive. While enroute, the Fire Alarm Office updated the call to a Still and Box alarm due to reports of numerous residents trapped.
Upon arrival, Truck 49 learned that residents were trapped on the fifth floor, and the firefighters immediately began to climb the stairs. At the top of the fifth-floor staircase landing, they came across a woman who said her mother was trapped inside the unit on fire.
The fifth-floor corridor was filled with heavy black smoke and firefighters felt excessive heat coming from the open apartment door. The conditions were rapidly deteriorating, and Firefighter Anthony Rouba and Firefighter Omar Bucio knew that they had to act immediately before fire engulfed the entire apartment and hallway on the fifth floor.
With zero visibility and intense heat conditions, Firefighters Rouba and Bucio pushed deeper into the apartment to conduct their primary search. They quickly located the victim and carried her to the end of the corridor and down five flights of stairs.
The firefighters brought her to the paramedics for treatment and transport to the hospital.
Because of their quick, selfless actions that night, these firefighters saved a mother who might not be here today without their courage.
2025 Firefighter Award of Valor
FF/EMT Anthony Torres
Just before midnight on February 29, Engine 38, Truck 48, and Battalion Chief 18, were dispatched to a fire in the 1200 block of South Independence Boulevard.
Once on the scene, firefighters discovered a three-story, multi-unit building with heavy fire blowing out of the front of the building from the second and third floors. They witnessed occupants rushing out of the front door as the fire continued to blaze.
Truck 48 immediately pulled up to the front of the building and set up aerial operations. Members also prepared for possible rescue operations of any remaining occupants.
While exiting the truck, Firefighter Anthony Torres noticed a male victim leaning out the second-floor window desperately waving for help. As the fire and heat continued to increase, the occupant moved even further out of the window, ready to jump, due to heat and smoke that cut off his path to the apartment door.
Firefighter Torres quickly coordinated with Firefighter Nee and deployed the 28-foot extension ground ladder. Firefighter Torres saw the victim now clinging to the edge of the windowsill, unable to withstand the increasingly deadly conditions. While other residents yelled at the victim to jump, Firefighter Torres was able to calmly engage the victim and encourage him to hold on for a few more seconds.
After raising the ladder, Firefighter Torres raced up and performed a successful ladder rescue before the victim panicked and resorted to further drastic action. Firefighter Torres carried the victim down the ladder as other Chicago Fire Department personnel began to triage the victim.
The victim was transported and treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
The actions of Firefighter Torres – from his sharp situational awareness to his swift, courageous rescue – embody the very best practices and traditions of the Chicago Fire Department.
2025 Firefighter of the Year
FF/EMT Daniel M McGovern, FF/EMT Brendan J Reilly and FF/EMT Samuel J Shanahan
On February 21, Truck 49 responded to a high-rise fire in the 7100 block of Jeffrey Boulevard.
Upon arrival, Firefighter Brendan Reilly observed civilians hanging from the ninth-floor windows, struggling with heavy smoke above them. Firefighter Reilly immediately raised the aerial ladder to the ninth floor, extending it almost vertically to nearly 100 feet in the air. His partner, Firefighter Samuel Shanahan climbed to the top of the ladder and rescued two people, including a child in cardiac arrest.
After this rescue, Firefighters Reilly and Shanahan then raised ground ladders to the third floor, where more residents were in distress. Firefighter Reilly performed a Vent-Enter-Isolate-Search maneuver to rescue a disabled woman and bring her to safety down the ladder.
As these rescues were underway, Firefighter Daniel McGovern, a member of the Fire Investigation Team conducting a primary search in the initial stages of a high-rise fire, encountered a family struggling to make their way down the hot, smoke-filled stairwell. Firefighter McGovern saw that the family was quickly becoming overcome by smoke and time was of the essence if they were to survive. He made his way to them in zero visibility, picked up two children and carried them to safety, all while urging the parents to follow. Once the children were safely in hands of other firefighters, Firefighter McGovern returned to rescue their parents along with the family dog.
After exiting the building, he noticed that firefighters from Truck 49 needed help with ladder rescues from lower-floor windows. He raised a ground ladder to the second floor and brought another resident to safety. Engine 126 and Truck 49’s quick, decisive initial actions at this fire resulted in the successful rescue of at least 10 civilians.
Firefighters McGovern, Reilly, and Shanahan acted swiftly, bravely, and skillfully, with little regard for their own safety.
2025 Paramedic of the Year
Paramedic Field Chief David J Ernst
Paramedic Field Chief David J Ernst was near the University of Chicago Hospital, when he heard a call that two construction workers had fallen approximately 140 feet from the scaffolding of a building under construction. He immediately responded to the scene and was the first arriving unit.
Upon arrival, he learned that high winds had left the scaffolding unsecured and debris was falling from above, making entry extremely dangerous. Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Paramedic Field Chief Ernst went down to the basement sub-level to reach both patients and determine whether lifesaving care could begin before the first response companies arrived.
He found one patient deceased and triaged the other with critical life-threatening injuries. He worked diligently to assess the worker and notified responding paramedics of the injuries and necessary lifesaving equipment needed.
Paramedic Field Chief Ernst coordinated and collaborated with onsite construction crews and multiple agencies to facilitate the removal of the surviving critical patient. Construction crews lifted him via a crane and basket to the street level where University of Chicago Hospital staff were waiting to transport the patient across the street for trauma care.
Paramedic Field Chief Ernst recognized that immediate extrication was essential due to the severity of the patient’s injuries. His critical thinking, rapid response, and skilled leadership ensured the patient was safely transported to the University of Chicago Hospital for advanced life-saving care.
2025 Firefighter Award of Valor
FF/EMT Michael P Gettes (not pictured)
On the morning of June 15, Truck 34 along with other companies from the 23rd Battalion responded to a fire in the 2400 block of East 78th Street. Upon arrival, they encountered a three-story, multi-unit apartment building with heavy fire and heavy smoke conditions present.
The first arriving engine reported flames engulfing the stairwell and heavy black smoke pouring from every window of a third-floor unit, where residents were hanging out of windows to escape the heat and smoke. Truck 34 immediately began rescue operations.
Firefighter Michael Gettes and the remaining Truck 34 members moved to the rear of the building and encountered heavy black smoke coming from the first-floor rear unit. Residents were pointing to the third floor indicating that a child was trapped inside. Fire was quickly encroaching on the second-floor units and was starting to spread upward toward the child.
Firefighters began a two-fronted effort to rescue the trapped child, by way of the rear entrance and a ground ladder directly to the bedroom windows. There were several
obstructions in place, which added to the difficulty of raising the 35-foot ladder to the third-floor window.
With no hose line yet in place, Firefighter Michael Gettes climbed up to the bedroom window and immediately realized the only way to reach the child would be to perform a Vent-Enter-Isolate-Search operation. Because of the extreme fire and heat conditions, Firefighter Gettes knew time was running out for both him and the trapped child. He entered to begin a primary search and saw that the interior bedroom door had been completely burned away, making it impossible to safely isolate the room from the fire conditions outside.
Undeterred, FF Gettes continued the search, and within seconds, emerged at the bedroom window with the trapped child. He handed the child to a waiting member of Truck 34 at the top of the ladder.
From his position near the bedroom window, FF Gettes observed that Engine 72 was preparing to make entry into the rear door from the porch, with the hose line in place, and decided to continue his search.
Pushing deeper into the unit as the hose line was advancing, now joined by the engine and the interior search teams, FF Gettes discovered another victim in the living room who would later succumb to the fire conditions.
Firefighter Gettes performed heroically, with complete disregard for his own personal safety, and in the highest traditions of the Chicago Fire Department.
2025 Paramedic of the Year
Paramedic Field Chief Joseph DiGiovanni
On November 20, Paramedic Field Chief Joseph DiGiovanni responded to and was the first to arrive on the scene of a working fire.
Paramedic Field Chief DiGiovanni updated the dispatcher with a size-up including that heavy fire was blowing out of the second-floor windows and heavy smoke conditions throughout the entire building. There were also reports of occupants trapped.
Understanding the immediate danger to the residents trapped inside, Paramedic Field Chief DiGiovanni made the heroic decision to enter the building in an attempt to save lives. He had no protective clothing or self-contained breathing apparatus. He began by working to get the attention of the first-floor resident by knocking on the front door of her unit. After multiple attempts she finally opened the door. At this point smoke was filling the stairwell along with heat from the fire just above them. Paramedic Field Chief DiGiovanni explained the floor above her was on fire and she needed to vacate the building now. The resident was hesitant to leave due to animals in the apartment. Visibility was quickly diminishing due to the increasing smoke conditions and heat was intensifying. He knew that in a moment, conditions would become untenable for survival.
Paramedic Field Chief DiGiovanni again stressed the urgency of evacuating and rescued the resident. Once outside the building, he immediately began patient care and triage. Fortunately, the first arriving suppression companies were on the scene and working to extinguish the fire.
Paramedic Field Chief DiGiovanni showed outstanding bravery and heroism while demonstrating personal courage, going beyond the call of duty under adverse conditions, along with the possibility of extreme risk.
2025 Valor and Exemplary Service Award
Battalion Chief Steven Groszek
Commander Christopher Grande
Lieutenant Michael Curtin
Lieutenant Felix Serrano
Engineer Jamie Delgado FF/EMT Sean Gore
FF/EMT Garrett McCarthy FF/EMT Paul Simandl
On July 4, destructive and deadly flooding took place in the Hill Country region in the state of Texas. Flooding began early that morning after significant rainfall accumulated across Central Texas. Six flash flood emergencies, which included the cities of Kerrville and Mason, were issued the same day. The Guadalupe River rose about 26 feet in 45 minutes, surging to an estimated 29 feet in the area.
The State of Texas requested additional Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) teams to assist in the rescue operations. Thirty-nine Illinois firefighters and paramedics, including eight members of the Chicago Fire Department, from USAR Task Force 1 deployed to Texas as part of a coordinated rescue effort.
These members undergo thousands of hours of training in search and rescue disciplines including structural collapse, swift water rescue, confined space rescue, and high angle rescue as part of their training required to be USAR team members.
Although team members had responded to previous disasters, nothing compared to what they encountered in Texas. Catastrophic flooding swept away entire neighborhoods — many people were missing, including children — and the mission ahead was unimaginable. The landscape was filled with debris, downed trees, and dangerous conditions that made every step physically and mentally demanding.
Despite it all, the team pressed forward with search, rescue, and recovery operations throughout their 14-day deployment. They never lost hope and never wavered in their commitment to save lives and bring comfort to survivors in their darkest hours.
Although many lives were lost, many lives were saved due to the dedication of those who responded.
That is why the Chicago Fire Department Foundation believes it is so important to honor these members who left their families behind and willingly stepped into harm’s way to help others.