New Firefighter Commended For Off-Duty Heroism

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2023

Firefighter Charlie Davis only graduated from the Dalton Fire Department's Recruit School in April, but he already has one life-saving effort on his record. Davis was honored at Tuesday morning's meeting of the Public Safety Commission with a commendation for his heroism while off duty last month. 

Caption: Chief Todd Pangle (left) presents Firefighter Charlie Davis with a commendation for his life-saving heroism while off-duty 

The incident happened on July 15th when Davis, a first-year firefighter with the DFD, was traveling across East Nickajack Road in Catoosa County while off duty. Davis saw people peforming CPR on a patient on the side of the road and immediately stopped to help. 

"Firefighter Davis stopped and assumed control of the situation," Fire Chief Todd Pangle said Tuesday. "He performed a quick assessment and then began performing compressions on the victim." 

Davis also told a bystander to call 911 and have Catoosa County Fire sent to the scene. While waiting, Davis continued performing CPR while preparing the victim for advanced medical care. After Catoosa County firefighters arrived on scene and placed an AED on the victim, Davis continued to assist with chest compressions until a LUCAS chest compression device could be applied. The patient received five shocks from the AED before EMS arrived on scene. 

After the patient was taken to the hospital by ambulance, Charlie Davis' work was not done. He then took the victim's wife back home and made sure that she was OK. 

"Afterwards our personnel contacted the hospital to check on the patient and we learned that not long after arriving at the ER the patient was alive and was actually alert and talking," Chief Pangle said.