Boardman firefighter honored for lifesaving rescue

BOARDMAN — Township trustees honored a firefighter who rescued a man from fast-moving water earlier this month.

The panel presented a proclamation this week to Tom Donadee, a 13-year department veteran, at Chief James Dorman’s request.

On May 8, following three days of rain, a 33-year-old man fell into Lake Newport just above the falls into the fast-moving water below, the proclamation says.

Firefighters from the station at Lockwood Boulevard and Shields Road, including Donadee, were dispatched to help.

“Tom Donadee could see the victim floating in the cold and fast-moving water alive but non-responsive to his calls because the victim suffered from hypothermia,” it reads.

He ran down the path along the creek to get ahead of the victim and jumped into the chest-deep water, walking through the creek bed, which was full of sharp, moss-covered rocks, stopping the victim from being propelled down the creek and over Lanterman’s Falls.

Donadee “pulled the victim to shore to the waiting hands of firefighter Gary Houser, who assisted in pulling the victim out of the water and placing him in a waiting ambulance,” the proclamation says.

He “disregarded his own safety and saved the life of this young man at great risk to his own life,” it says.

The victim, who authorities at the time said was intoxicated, was transported to St. Elizabeth Health Center.