Fire Turns Into Blessing In Disguise

It's a strange twist of fate, one that may have saved a man's life Saturday in Middle Valley.

A barbecue grill sparked a fire on a back yard deck. The fire wasn't the problem - it's what happened after the fire was put out that was literally heart-stopping.

Amy Maxwell, spokesperson for Hamilton County Emergency Services, said "when Dallas Bay arrived on the scene they saw one of the gentlemen who owned the house was putting out the grill fire."

A leak from a propane barbecue grill sparked some trouble that appears to have been a blessing in disguise. The homeowner called 911 and then used a hose to snuff out the flames that spread to his deck. Dallas Bay volunteer firefighters arrived a few minutes later to finish the job.

Once things cooled down the homeowner and firefighters were outside talking about the fire when the homeowner collapsed, falling flat on his face. He stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest.

As Hamilton County paramedics were called to the scene firefighters immediately began CPR and grabbed their automated external defibrillator.

"They pulled the automated external defibrillator and used it on this patient in the first two minutes which actually saved this gentleman's life," Maxwell said.

As the AED literally talked the firefighters through a life-saving process, and shocked the man's heart, he started breathing again. Had the firefighters not been at the house with their equipment this story could have a much different ending.

"It just so happens it was just a lucky turn of events that Dallas Bay was actually there when this gentleman went down at the time," Maxwell said.

The victim is recovering at Erlanger Medical Center and we're told he will have surgery in the next day or so to correct some blockages in his heart that he didn't even know he had.