Jefferson County first responders honored at American Legion

Dispatcher Mary Granger and senior dispatcher Sarah Maney were recognized for their efforts during a house fire.

After receiving reports of the fire shortly before 3 a.m. Dec. 11, the person who called in the fire was given instructions by dispatcher Granger. She walked the caller through what they should do and obtained more information. This included determining that there was a truck in the driveway, which resulted in the caller giving dispatch the license plate number.

The dispatchers determined that the registered owner of the truck lived at the address of the fire. Dispatcher Granger was also able to find a phone number because of previous calls already in the system.

She asked dispatcher Maney to attempt to call the number, and after three calls, the sleeping occupant answered the phone.

Dispatcher Maney told the occupant that they were in grave danger and needed to get out of the house as soon as possible.

Other people who were honored for their extraordinary efforts were officer Matthew Heath and Deputy Superintendent for Security Jeremy Knapp from Cape Vincent Correctional Facility; Trooper Joshua T. Cox and Trooper Joseph R. Morris from New York State Police; officers Wayne W. McConnell and Tyler J. Hill from the Watertown Police Department; Deputy Sheriff Jamie M. Taylor and Corrections Officer Daniel E.J. Dennie from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office; and Capt. Jason Ormsby and Capt. John Zingaro from the Watertown Fire Department.

Trooper Cox was given the award for life-saving efforts at a local restaurant.

On Nov. 17, 2021, when he was out to eat with his wife, a 90-year-old woman who was eating with her granddaughter started choking. Her pregnant granddaughter began doing the Heimlich maneuver with negative results.

He noticed what was going on, ran across the room, performed the Heimlich maneuver and open-hand slapped her back. After a few attempts going back and forth, he noticed that she started to regain some of her color and he then saw some food on the ground.

For the Watertown Police Department, Officer Hill received the Officer of the Year award for the second time, this time for his life-saving efforts after responding to a woman lying on the floor, not breathing and without a pulse.

He started CPR and continued until he was relieved by city firefighters. The woman was able to fully recover.

Deputy Sheriff Taylor helped with CPR on a child in Rodman. Deputy Taylor was at a nearby call, so he was able to be on scene in two minutes.

While assisting with CPR, he knew that responding EMS providers were going to take too long. Deputy Taylor loaded the mom and child into his patrol vehicle and met an ambulance. He took the most direct route and was giving the mother CPR instructions.

He assisted EMS in the back of the ambulance during their ride to Samaritan Medical Center. The child was unresponsive when arriving at the hospital, but emergency room personnel were able to get a pulse back.

The child was transported to the SUNY Upstate Pediatric Unit, and died on Dec. 22.

“Deputy Taylor made the best choices possible, under grave circumstances, to give that child the greatest chance of survival,” Sheriff Peter R. Barnett said.

City firefighter Capt. Zingaro and Capt. Ormsby while on their way into work heard reports of a well-involved structure fire, with reports of people entrapped in the town of Clay.

They diverted and went to the fire.

They were assisting the other fire departments and noticed a woman on the third-floor balcony in peril.

The fire captains used one of the ladders from the other fire companies to get the woman to safety, and they then continued to assist on scene.

At Cape Vincent Correctional Facility, Officer Heath was honored for the 25 years he has given to the facility, and Deputy Superintendent Knapp was given the award for the years he has given to the facility.