| Name: | Andrew Fitzgerald |
| Gender: | Male |
| Agency: | Lockport Township Fire Protection District |
| Type of Firefighter: | Career |
| Rank: | Firefighter |
| Type of Duty: | Ladder operations, Search and rescue operations |
| Type of Award: | Medal of Valor |
| Year of Award: | 2009 |
| Incident City: | Lockport |
| Year of Incident: | 2008 |
| Incident Location Type: | Commercial |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Firefighter Andrew Fitzgerald of the Lockport Township Fire Protection District’s Truck Company #5 was awarded the Medal of Valor for his efforts to rescue a victim from a hotel fire in Lockport, Illinois on April 1, 2008.
Truck Company #5 arrived at the Towpath Inn Hotel at 4:00 a.m. to find smoke billowing out of the third and fourth floors of the one-hundred-year-old building. Two victims were hanging out of the third-story windows, and another was hanging out of a fourth-story window in the rear of the building. The first two victims were rescued with a ground ladder. The third victim, a male, was having problems getting onto the ladder. Firefighter Fitzgerald climbed up the ladder, awkwardly stood on its third rung, and reached the man’s leg in order to guide him out of the window. The man was removed to saved thanks to Fitzgerald’s actions and was treated for smoke inhalation.
Citation:
“Illinois State Awards,” Lockport Township Fire Protection District, [n.d.].