3 Ind. first responders awarded for saving FF at house fire

Kraig Younts
Greensburg Daily News, Ind.

OLDENBURG, Ind. — Three members of Batesville Fire & Rescue have been recognized with the prestigious Heroic Life Saving Award by the Indiana State Fire Marshal on Thursday, September 24 at the Oldenburg Fire House.

The awards were presented due to their actions on April 24 when Batesville Fire & Rescue and Morris Volunteer Fire Department responded to a house fire in the 2700 block of E. 1500N. While on scene, Morris firefighter Ed Scheele collapsed and went into cardiac arrest.

Batesville firefighter Chris Baker, paramedic Ryan Everman and EMT Elizabeth Kruthaupt immediately began performing CPR and other life-saving measures on Scheele.

"When we got to Ed we realized this wasn’t someone who overheated it was a much more grave circumstance," Everman recalls. "The cardiac monitor was applied immediately and realized he was in a DFIB rhythm which is a very life-threatening rhythm."

Those actions assisted Scheele to get a pulse back where he was then transported to a Cincinnati hospital for recovery.

"I would like to thank Ryan, Chris and Elizabeth for everything they did and for giving me more years to spend with my family and my fire family, they helped save my life," said Scheele.

Scheele has since recovered and continues to serve on the Morris Volunteer Fire Department where he has been a member for 41 years.

The Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Heroic Life Saving Award recognizes the attempt to save a life. It is given to honor a public safety worker for heroic acts and extraordinary skill and resourcefulness to save, or attempt to save, a person's life.

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©2020 the Greensburg Daily News (Greensburg, Ind.)