| Name: | Frank Ritter |
| Gender: | Male |
| Agency: | Bolingbrook Fire Department |
| Type of Firefighter: | |
| Rank: | Firefighter |
| Type of Duty: | Firefighting operations, Ladder operations, Search and rescue operations |
| Type of Award: | Medal of Valor |
| Year of Award: | 2006 |
| Incident City: | Bolingbrook |
| Year of Incident: | 2005 |
| Incident Location Type: | Residential |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Lieutenant Richard Kostelz, Firefighter Jeffrey Purtell, and Firefighter Frank Ritter with the Bolingbrook Fire Department were awarded the Medal of Valor for their actions while fighting an apartment complex fire in Bolingbrook, Illinois, on June 1, 2005.
Bolingbrook Engine 211, with Kostelz in command, responded as the second engine on the scene and arrived to find a working fire in the three-story apartment building. A woman quickly informed firefighters that her mother was trapped on the second floor. With smoke showing from the second floor windows, Kostelz attempted to determine the location of the victim within the large apartment indicated by the victim’s daughter. He ordered that a ladder be thrown to the second floor window of the apartment that he believed to be closest to the trapped woman.
Kostelz, Purtell, and Ritter entered the apartment through the window with an uncharged hose line and encountered heavy smoke and high heat. Kostelz ordered Ritter to attack the fire in the next room with the hose line while he and Purtell performed a search of the apartment. The two firefighters located the victim in the living room next to a couch. They determine that she was still breathing and radioed for a ladder to be raised to the window closest to their location. Purtell broke out the window to direct firefighters on the ground to their location and helped Kostelz move the victim across the room and out of the window to safety. The amount of time that elapsed from the entry of the firefighters into the apartment to removing the victim was approximately one minute.
Once the victim was safe, Kostelz and Purtell returned to searching the remainder of the apartment while Ritter followed them, extinguishing the fire with the hose line. After finding no other victims, the three firefighters extinguished the fire.
Citation:Gov. Blagojevich honors fallen firefighters, recognizes 28 other firefighters for extraordinary acts of bravery,
Illinois Government News Network, May 11, 2006.