INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Three heroic Cobb County firefighters who jumped into action as heroes over the weekend, thousands of miles from home, spoke up about how they’re living their motto, “in service, always ready, never out of the fight.”
Gregory Baker, Aaron Mabry and TJ Proulx were visiting Indianapolis for the annual Fire Department Instructors Conference.
The firefighters told Channel 2’s Karyn Greer that an early bedtime helped lead to their act of heroism.
“Yeah, so we were at the hotel and we got, we got in late,” Baker said. “We came here and worked all day. So we went to bed fairly early and then we got up and we’re like ‘hey, that’s the only place around.’ So we walked down there.”
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The place was a White Castle, a popular spot for small, square hamburgers.
“Ordering food and then people in the restaurant are, you know, saying ‘hey, you know they’re shooting outside in the parking lot,’” Baker said. “Then there’s a guy by the door. He said ‘hey, there’s a guy down in the parking lot.’ And then we all kind of go over there and look, make sure you know, there is a person down.”
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Once the firefighters made sure it was safe, they ran outside to find the shooting victim. The three then used their training to stop the bleeding until paramedics got there.
“Baker and I went outside to get a quick assessment, maybe grab some napkins and nipple gloves,” Proulx said. “We went out there and just did a rapid trauma assessment on him and just started addressing the wounds the best we could.”
Now, the gunshot wound victim is awake.
“So we got to update this morning that initially he was extremely critical,” Baker said. “They did stabilize him at the hospital. And then as of this morning, he’s up talking.”
This type of situation isn’t a first for the brave Cobb County firefighters, they’ve been part of dozens of victim rescues across the county.
“That’s what we’re doing up here, is trying to spread our search culture,” Baker said. “This year alone, we’ve pulled 15 victims out of fires already, and then over the past four years, I think we’re [at] 115. So I mean, it’s a pretty aggressive search culture, so everybody gets their litter share of the glory. It’s amazing.”
The three told Channel 2 Action News they were going to try again to get White Castle before they leave on Thursday.
They said, if it’s 3 a.m. and they’re hungry, they’ll probably ride over.
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