Testimonial: Dayton Fire Department
Dear Chief Beddies:
I want to personally express the gratitude of our entire department for the assistance of Public Safety Officer Tim Harrison in the recent tragic incident involving one of our firefighters. As you know, one of our off-duty personnel was bitten by a rhinoceros viper, a very deadly snake, at his home and was in respiratory and cardiac arrest on arrival at Miami Valley Hospital.
Officer Harrison came to the hospital and offered his expertise and advice to the medical staff, assisting them in their successful efforts to stabilize the patient sufficiently for a Care Flight transfer to Cincinnati. He then accompanied another Dayton firefighter and myself, with a medic unit on standby, to the patient's home to retrieve the deadly viper. Literally risking his own life, Officer Harrison removed the snake from its cage to a carrying cage for transport to the hospital.
Though herpetology is a vocation of his, and he is very experienced, this was certainly above and beyond the normal requirements of his professional duties and deserves recognition. Despite the eventually unhappy outcome; there is no doubt that Officer Harrison's selfless assistance contributed to the effective care received by our brother firefighter, which gave him a fighting change of survival.
Sincerely,
David Grahl
District Chief, East 3
Lacey Calloway
Asst. Chief, Emergency Operations
Larry Collins
Director and Chief