Penhold's finest survive heroically at Las Vegas massacre

Vacationing Penhold firefighters braved the murderous gunfire at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas to help others despite a massive wall of panicked concertgoers desperately fleeing for safety.

"There was panic, people running in all directions. A girl had fallen over and people were beginning to fall on top of her, she was being trampled. We weren't sure if she was shot or concussed from the fall but she was dazed for sure," said Sean Pendergast, a captain with the Penhold Fire Department who was at the concert with his fiancé Danielle Meeres, a firefighter with the department and an ICU nurse at the Red Deer Hospital.

"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!' Finally she responded and we helped her up and started running again."

The couple were in Las Vegas last weekend, and at the concert with Mackenzie (Max) Johnston, a senior Penhold firefighter and Laura Johnston, a caseworker with the Alberta government.

"We were separated from them (Pendergast and Meeres) very shortly after we realized that it was in fact gunfire," said Max. "We could hear bullets hitting the ground and at one point I yelled to Laura, 'get down' and she dropped in place.

"There was a lull in shots and I yelled to her to get back up and we took off through a gap in the food trucks. This is when we had lost Sean and Dani," said Max. "As this was happening we saw a young woman with a gunshot wound in her chest area.

"The rushing crowd would not allow us to get over to help her and she was already being assisted so we moved on towards the exit," he added.

In the meantime, Pendergast and Meeres were desperately trying to navigate to safety, always worrying about the well being of their friends and assisting the wounded whenever possible.

"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. "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.

"She had already been helped down the stairs and to the medics. I then called my fiancé Sean but the phones would not connect," she added. "I tried Max and got through. We all met up a few seconds later."

The two local couples eventually found themselves out of harm's way. But Las Vegas was gripped with fear and utter chaos and 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 their chosen hotel for their vacation. They quickly collected their possessions and went to the airport to fly home.

It was then Oct. 2. By then the full horror of the evening before in Las Vegas was known to a shocked and horrified world. At least 59 people were killed and 527 injured by the hand of crazed 64-year-old "lone wolf" attacker named Stephen Paddock.

"Las Vegas is one of the most prepared cities in the world. The response by all police, fire and EMS was incredible," said the two couples in a joint statement. "There were also countless off-duty police, fire and EMS at the concert who risked their lives to save others.

"The casualties should be remembered, feel sad and sorry for them," they said.

"The four of us are working through this together," they added. "We all have access to assistance programs through our full time jobs and always have the Penhold Fire Department to back us up. We have each other and we have family."

For more on this story read the Oct. 10 Innisfail Province.