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Workers from Boak receive awards for rescue
By amanda tonoli
CANFIELD
Donald Hutchison, Cardinal Joint Fire District chief, presented Life Saver awards this week to three Boak & Sons employees for their courageous efforts to save victims of a car accident on Raccoon Road.
Hutchison said this is an award given to citizens who take a step out of their routines and save lives.
Gary Jones, Chris Denno and Richard Markel were working on a roof on Raccoon Road around 1 p.m. Oct. 27.
The men heard the collision and raced to help the victims inside the flame-engulfed car.
They were able to pull Tesla Haberger and Damian Ouellette, out of the vehicle to safety. Haberger died due to extensive injuries, however.
“We put our lives on the line every day at work, and we weren’t even thinking – we just wanted to help somebody,” said Denno, a Boak & Sons foreman.
Denno’s wife, Katie, said she is proud that her husband didn’t even hesitate to help people in need.
“His selflessness was used to help another person’s life,” Katie Denno said. “As bad as the situation was, he knows in his heart he did everything he could do.”
Sandy Markel, Richard Markel’s mother, said she enjoyed seeing the fire department honor the men for their efforts.
“It truly tells what kind of people we have, that they would go and help someone, just like that,” Markel said.
All that Jones said was, “thank God,” and “prayers to the family.”
Mindy Jones, his wife, said her husband is glad he was able to save one of the victims, but still is coping with the fact that a woman died.
“He is just really humbled, being in the right place at the right time,” she said.
Hutchison started the Life Saver Program by teaming up with companies and helping them with an automated external defibrillator program for cardiac arrest. Even when people aren’t saved by the AEDs this program provides for cardiac-arrest victims, the fire department recognizes individuals who save lives.