North Charleston fire chief recognizes 3 residents for saving lives

The North Charleston Fire Department plans to honor three residents who saved lives this year.

Chief Gregory Bulanow's Citizen Awards will be presented at 7 p.m. Thursday during a city council meeting. A department statement said the recognition goes to “citizens for outstanding actions or achievement that positively affect the fire department or community.”

Those recognized and a summary of their actions:

Thomas Gotbeter, who performed CPR on a stranger outside a L'il Cricket store until paramedics arrived April 3. The man received treatment and was released from a hospital days later.

Gotbeter had heard a woman screaming in a vehicle and found her husband unable to breathe and without a pulse.

“When in full arrest, the only chance of survival is to receive early and skillful delivery of CPR,” Fire Capt. Tim Howard said in a statement. “How soon they receive CPR significantly affects their survival rate.”

Pfc. Andrew Glover of the North Charleston Police Department, who saw black smoke billowing from a Buskirk Street home April 15 and helped the homeowner and his adult grandson, who had been sleeping in separate rooms, get out safely.

“Officer Glover's effort to enter a burning home to alert the occupants of danger is truly an example of going above and beyond the call of duty,” Fire Educator Bianca Sancic said in a statement. “Toxic smoke in residential fires can kill an occupant or would-be rescuer in just a few breaths.”

Reginald Curry, who caught a baby who was dropped from a second-story window during a fire Feb. 10 at the Noisette Creek Apartments.

After the baby's mother jumped from the building, Curry learned that another child was trapped inside. He then kicked in the door, walked about 12 feet into the burning apartment and pulled the child to safety.

“Mr. Curry's willingness to immediately come to the aid of his neighbors reflects the best of what we could hope for from our fellow citizens,” Battalion Chief Eric Philips said in a statement. “His willingness to fight his way in to a burning building without protective equipment saved the life of a vulnerable child literally moments before a certain death.”