A local firefighter was recognized with a medal of valor for his actions in preventing a runaway ambulance from going over the edge of an embankment with a patient still inside.
Capt. Dustin Chambliss works with the Verde Valley Fire District.
The incident happened in late March when Chambliss was working calls for the Blue Ridge Fire District, based near Happy Jack.
Chambliss and an ambulance driver had responded to a call of a man having chest pains.
It was around 2:30 a.m. and the ambulance was taking the man to Flagstaff Medical Center along Lake Mary Road.
The ambulance pulled over momentarily so that Chambliss could attach monitors to the man’s chest, monitors that let medics get a look at the heart.
“I wanted to see how he was doing to figure out whether or not we needed to get there faster,” Chambliss said.
To read the full story, see the Wednesday, June 17, edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
