East Haven Fire Dept. Medics Lauded By Family For Heroics, Life-Saving

EAST HAVEN, CT —Responding to a medical call that was "very serious" and could have potentially not ended well, four East Haven Fire Department firefighter paramedics saved a life recently. Life-saving is not uncommon for East Haven firefighters and medics. But what doesn't happen every day is the department receives a card from a very grateful family.

"Words cannot express the fast acting, professional, caring, and heroic acts in an effort to give all you can in saving my son’s life. We are all so thankful for all you do every day. God bless you all!"

East Haven Fire Department Chief Matthew Marcarelli shared the note on Facebook.

"Great work saving a life on this call. Always nice to hear back from the families we help out especially on these touch-and-go type calls that could go either way," he wrote. And praised paramedics —calling their efforts "strong work"—David Gomez-Colon, Mike Volpe Jr., Eric Demeraski and, responding to his first-ever medical call with the EHFD, Chris Holdsworth. The 21-year-old began work as a firefighter paramedic late last month. He graduated from the Connecticut Fire Academy's 73rd Recruit Fire Training Class. Read that story here.

"The call was a very serious, potentially fatal medical emergency that without intervention may not have ended on a happy note," Marcarelli told Patch.