Just over a year ago, Daniel Cooper would never had imagined that his afternoon was going to be one of the most memorable of his life. At 2:02 the afternoon of March 10, 2012, dispatchers began to receive reports of a residential fire in SE Portland. Just under three-quarters of a mile away, the Truck and Engine crews from Station 25 received the dispatch tones that signify a fire and were responding within a minute. Three additional Engine Companies were also sent to fill the many vital assignments on a fire incident such as forcible entry, water supply, rescue, medical, ventilation and RIT, which is a rescue team that is ready and available to rescue a firefighter or victim in distress.

During the fifteen block response, dispatchers began receiving updates that neighbors were absolutely certain that there was a man inside the home. Dispatch added an ambulance unit to the response based on information received from callers.

Engine and Truck 25 arrived only two minutes after the call was dispatched. The engine crew began fire suppression efforts and Truck 25 was assigned to one of their primary functions; search and rescue. Truck 25 Lieutenant Rian Minto discovered Daniel unconscious in his bathroom less than four minutes after they arrived on scene, and with the help of his crew brought him out to the front yard where Fire-Medics and Fire-EMT's began resuscitation efforts before transferring care to the ambulance crew for transport. Fire Lieutenant/Paramedic Brad Cullison accompanied Daniel to the hospital to assist with patient care. The other four fire crews continued working to suppress the fire while medical care was being administered.

"Had it not been for a rapid response time and a thorough report by the caller talking to dispatch the outcome would have been very different." said Battalion Chief Jim Forquer. "Daniel had an unknown down time of up to 10 minutes. This incident went exactly as we train for, and the results proved it."

Daniel remained in critical condition for several weeks, and was in a coma for several more after the fire. This has been a difficult journey with a year of painful rehab for Daniel, but he recently began expressing wanting to meet the firefighters responsible for rescuing him.

Daniel and Portland Fire & Rescue would like to extend an invitation to this reunion tomorrow, April 1, 2013 at 10:00 am.

Portland Fire Station 25
5211 SE Mall Street
Portland, OR 97206

Contact info, for media use only:
Firefighter / PIO Tommy Schroeder
Media Pager: (503) 940-6003