PENHOLD – Three local firefighters are being embraced as heroes for their professionalism and courage amidst the murderous storm of gunfire in Las Vegas that killed 59 people and injured at least 527.
“A lot of people ran for cover but they looked after the people who were injured,” said Mayor Dennis Cooper last week. “They are truly heroes for the sacrifice they put out, putting their own lives in danger to try to help people as much as they possibly could.”
Jim Pendergast, the chief of the Penhold Fire Department, said his three firefighters, including his 30-year-old son Sean, a captain; Sean's fiancé Danielle Meeres, a firefighter; and Max Johnston, a senior firefighter – are recovering well from their ordeal, and taking advantage of all available departmental resources.
“We are doing some post-traumatic stress stuff with them as well, fire department-related, but they are getting better every day. Sean and Dani are handling it pretty well,” said Pendergast, adding they are also helping Max's wife Laura, a caseworker with the Alberta government who was also in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, the night of the deadly shootings.
The four Penholders were at the Route 91 Harvest music festival when gunfire burst out from the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay casino hotel at the crowd of more than 22,000 people. The gunman was later identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, a “lone wolf” killer.
“Our firefighters are the type of people running into a building when everybody else is running out,” said Cooper. “They could have just chose to run for the hills, but they chose to look after their partners and other people. They were totally unselfish in what they did.”
Sean described the scene as one of panic, with people running in all directions. He recalled a woman falling over, with frightened people toppling over her. The Penhold firefighter was unsure if she was shot or knocked out.
“Dani and I started yelling, ‘stop stop stop.' We got the crowd to stop pushing forward, Dani was focused on the girl; she kept telling her, ‘we have to get up, come on get up!'” said Sean. “Finally she responded and we helped her up and started running again.”
Sean and Meeres were separated from Max and Laura. They desperately tried to navigate to safety, while always worrying about the well-being of their friends and assisting the wounded whenever possible. Eventually they received a text from Max and Laura that they were sheltered on the top of the nearby Tropicana hotel, where they were assisting frightened people. Along the way Meeres, who is also a nurse at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, assisted a gunshot victim.
“I found some towels to wrap around the gunshot victim. His name was Bobby. We went to the other side of the casino, pushing Bobby on an office chair to a side exit where a paramedic took him to an ambulance,” said Meeres, who stayed with the victim while her fiancé went to look for their friends. “The two other guys helping Bobby were an off-duty firefighter and an EMT. I went up top to help another girl who had a gunshot wound to the chest.”
The two local couples, who escaped injury, eventually came together in the hotel lobby. For the next several hours they looked for water, food and a safe place.
Amidst the chaos they were forced to grab a room at a hotel where a cab driver dropped them off. In the morning, with little sleep, they were able to return to the hotel they had chosen for their vacation. They quickly collected their possessions and went to the airport to fly home.
For the past week the four have been recovering from their ordeal. While the four firefighters have issued lengthy statements of their harrowing experience, they have declined to be interviewed or photographed.
In the meantime, the entire community, region and province consider them heroes for the sacrifices they made in Las Vegas.
Innisfail fire Chief Gary Leith praised the professionalism of the trio of Penhold firefighters, noting emergency responders have a level of training well above average citizens, in respect to medical aid, dealing with emergencies and how to handle them.
“It is something we rehearse, and on occasions we have to do them on duty and sometimes we get exposed to it when we are not on duty,” said Leith. “Instincts and training, you just drop into your ‘can do,' ‘will do' and ‘will assist' and you just fall into your natural place or role.
“We seem to be faced with these on a regular basis, extremes of human action and natural actions that challenge us as individuals,” he added. “It is good to see that people still react in a way to help people.”
Danielle Meeres, firefighter for the Penhold Fire Department
"I found some towels to wrap around the gunshot victim. His name was Bobby. We went to the other side of the casino, pushing Bobby on an office chair to a side exit where a paramedic took him to an ambulance. I went up top to help another girl who had a gunshot wound to the chest."
