| Name: | Alexander Kuhl |
| Gender: | Male |
| Agency: | Belleville Fire Department |
| Type of Firefighter: | Career |
| Rank: | Recruit/Candidate/Probationary |
| Type of Duty: | Firefighting operations, Search and rescue operations |
| Type of Award: | Medal of Honor |
| Year of Award: | 2023 |
| Incident City: | Belleville |
| Year of Incident: | 2022 |
| Incident Location Type: | Residential |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Engineer/Driver Ryan Mahoney and Probationary Firefighter Alexander Kuhl were awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing a three-year-old and family dog from a high-heat residential fire.
In the early morning of January 11, 2022, the Belleville Fire Department was already at the site of an infrastructure incident when they got a call reporting a working structure fire with possible entrapment. Realizing they were only three or four blocks away from the call and could see the column of smoke in the sky, the firefighters quickly drove to the location of the fire.
Mahoney, acting as Captain that day, sized up the situation upon arrival, noting that the building had a wood frame and was almost entirely engulfed in flames. With confirmation of entrapment, Mahoney and Kuhl entered the building in search of victims. The building had zero visibility with high-heat conditions, making their jobs even more difficult and dangerous. When Firefighter Kuhl believed to have heard a child, the two searched until they located the three-year-old and family dog near a closet in the corner of the room. After extricating the child and dog, Mahoney and Kuhl reentered the residence in search of the possible missing adults. The rooms flashed over on them, requiring them to take a defensive stand with the hose line before they could push in any further. They located the child’s mother, who was already deceased, and relayed that she would need to be removed. Their low air alarms went off shortly after, requiring them to exit the residence so that another crew could take their place. Upon exiting the structure, Mahoney and Kuhl realized that the amount of damage their equipment took in the fire was extensive. Their masks had become wavy from the heat, their helmets were partially melted, they had burned through their Nomex hoods, their turnout gear turned red as a sign of heat degradation, and they suffered minor burns on their ears and shoulders.
Citations:
Holtmann, Derik. Woman killed in house fire in Belleville, Illinois.
Belleville News-Democrat, 11 Jan. 2022, www.bnd.com/news/local/article257217894.html
2023 IL Fallen Firefighter Memorial And MOH Ceremony.
Vimeo, uploaded by Crowdson Creative Video, 11 May 2023, vimeo.com/825948365/5148b7d371.