UNDATED - A firemen and two police officers from Gainesville are among four northeast Georgia nominees in a national all-star competition for first responders, according to the sponsor's Web site.
They are Lt. Todd Folger of the Hall County Fire Department, Gainesville police officers Jim Von Essen and Griggs Wall, and Curtis Wade of Clarkesville, chief of the North Georgia Tech Police Department.
According to the Web site, Lt. Folger has wanted to be a firefighter all his life. He started out as a volunteer and after two years went full-time with the Hall County department. He was cited for an incident in which he was the first to respond to a house fire and went in to discover a victim laying unconscious on the floor. According to the nomination, "He pulled the victim to safety and continued to fight the blaze."
The nominations for Wall and Von Essen says that during a routine traffic stop, Wall noticed something wasn't right with a passenger. It turns out she was in full cardiac arrest and had no heart rate. Fellow officer, Jim Von Essen responded to a call for help from Officer Wall, and together the two used an Automated External Defibrillator from Von Essen's car to shock the woman's heart, which her doctor says saved her life. (The pair recently received the Gainesville Police Department's Meritorious Service Award.)
According to the nomination for Chief Wade, he has been fighting crime for more than eleven years. He's been Chief at North Georgia Technical College in Habersham County since 2002 and before that he worked in the field of corrections. He is also a professor of Criminal Justice.
The contest sponsored by America's Most Wanted and you can cast your vote by going to the AMW Web site. (See link below.)
Thursday
October 24th, 2024
11:15AM
