Firefighters honored with lifesaver awards in Unity

Russell Withrow Jr. said his adrenaline was pumping when he jumped into flood waters — saving a local citizen who was swept away.

Withrow Jr., assistant fire chief at Mutual Volunteer Fire Department, was pulling his car into Dryridge Volunteer Fire Department’s parking lot during a major flooding event on Aug. 6, 2022 when he noticed a man who had stepped out of his car on White School Road.

The man was swept away by floodwaters and was heading toward a culvert pipe under Dryridge VFD’s driveway.

“He took like three steps, and he was like under the water,” Withrow Jr., 39, of Latrobe, said. “So, I jumped out of my truck.”

Withrow Jr. said everything was flooded that day, and it was pouring rain at Dryridge — the station that was taking care of command post operations, he said.

The man turned off his car, and Withrow Jr. said he was “screaming” at him to get back in it since he didn’t know how deep the water was.

“It was hard to even hear,” Withrow Jr. said. “At the last second, he went under the water, so I jumped in.”

The water ended up being around 8 to 10 feet deep, Withrow Jr. said, as he attempted to grab the man’s hand.

Withrow Jr. said the pair were only around 3 feet away from where the water was entering the culvert pipe.

“I don’t know if he would’ve made it if he would’ve went down there,” Withrow Jr. said. “He was fighting for his life.”

Assisted by Kevin Boarts of Dryridge VFD, Withrow Jr. and the man were safely pulled out of the floodwaters.

“It happened so fast,” Withrow Jr. said. “Last time I had adrenaline like that, I was deployed to Iraq.”

Withrow Jr. was in the army for five years and was deployed for 15 months. After being wounded in combat, he medically retired in 2010.

In hindsight, Withrow Jr. said he didn’t think the water would be so deep when he jumped in, and for safety reasons, he wasn’t supposed to just jump in the water like he did.

“But, at least it’s another life saved,” Withrow Jr. said.

Withrow and Boarts were among the firefighters honored with lifesaver awards at the Unity supervisors’ meeting last month.

They also were honored with medals of bravery.

“It brings better publicity for my fire department — that’s the biggest thing for me,” Withrow Jr. said. “Maybe it can get more recruits from … hearing about the good that we do firsthand.”

It’s a good thing for people to be rewarded for going “above and beyond,” Withrow Jr. said. “I was just doing what I signed up to do becoming a volunteer firefighter.”

Other awardees included:

• Raymond Bethune, Robert Fitzpatrick, William Gongaware, Joseph Mangini, Justin Watkins, William Watkins, Jimmy Wing and Larry Wing were awarded a unit citation for a technical rescue on May 11, 2022. A 30-year-old autistic male fell 25 feet down a mine ventilation shaft and was unable to verbally communicate with the rescuers. However, the crew stabilized the shaft, monitored the man’s air quality, pushed fresh air into the shaft, lowered two rescuers to place the man in a harness and hoisted him up to land. He was treated at a Pittsburgh trauma center and released 24 hours later.
• Robert Davis and Tate O’Barto received lifesaver awards for performing CPR and utilizing AED on a patient in cardiac arrest on June 5, 2020. The patient was revived, taken to a hospital and released four days later.
• Raymond Bethune, Robert Davis, Joseph Mangini, Tate O’Barto and Michael Schreckengost all received a lifesaver award for performing CPR and utilizing AED on a patient in cardiac arrest on July 6, 2019. The patient was taken to a hospital and released seven days later.
• Michael Keslar, Bernard J Cutlip, W. Jacob Henschel and John Keslar Jr. all received a lifesaver award for performing CPR and utilizing AED on a patient in cardiac arrest on March 1, 2021. The patient was taken to a hospital.
• James S. Rosebosky, Mark Ferrenber, Hilary R. Bacha and John Bacha all received a lifesaver award for performing CPR and utilizing AED on a patient in cardiac arrest on June 8, 2014. The patient regained their pulse and began breathing on their own.
• Rich Levay, Kevin Boarts, Patrick Noonan and John M. Foschia all received a lifesaver award for performing CPR and utilizing AED on a patient in cardiac arrest following an electric shock on Oct. 29, 2019. The patient regained their pulse and was taken to a hospital, and were later released.