2 North Andover Fire Department Employees To Be Honored For Heroism

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — The North Andover Fire Department announced that it has selected Lt. Timothy McGuire and firefighter Sarah Capuano for the annual Police/Firefighter/EMT of the Year Award presented by the Exchange Club of Lawrence and the Andovers.

The awards, which will be handed out on March 1, honor local public safety personnel from the police and fire departments of Andover, Lawrence and North Andover for their community service and heroic efforts.

North Andover FD Chief John Weir told Patch that his department solicits nominations from employees each year before an in-house committee reviews the nomination information and chooses a person, or multiple people, for the award.

McGuire and Capuano, who also both are EMTs, were chosen for their heroic actions this past July 3, after they witnessed a fireworks accident that left a pyrotechnician severely injured.

According to a nomination letter submitted by Weir, McGuire and Capuano were on fireworks detail overseeing preparation for that evening's fireworks display in town when danger struck.

Both NAFD employees observed a large mortar shell firework explode while the pyrotechnician was moving it across the area.

McGuire and Capuano, according to the nomination letter, surveyed the scene and determined the pyrotechnician had been severely injured and that a fire was quickly approaching the fireworks display, which potentially could have set off additional explosions.

The NAFD employees quickly requested additional resources and, while risking their own safety, made their way to the injured pyrotechnician and began providing life-saving measures to the victim, the nomination letter read.

McGuire and Capuano remained on the scene and assisted responding crews in further treatment of the victim, who was transported to a local trauma center. The victim survived.

"We're very proud of their actions," Weir told Patch. "Their response was paramount in the survival of the victim, and they took those actions in the face of immediate danger to themselves and other bystanders."