Sen. Berthel Honors AMR Waterbury Paramedic, EMT for Saving Children From Apartment Fire

On Wednesday, July 30, Sen. Berthel joined local officials at AMR Waterbury to present paramedic Keith Slater and EMT Michael Messenger with legislative citations for their actions, which saved lives at an apartment building fire on July 13 in Waterbury.

Slater and Messenger noticed smoke coming from a three-story apartment/retail building as they were leaving nearby Waterbury Hospital. With a fire rapidly spreading, the two entered the building, alerted residents to evacuate and ultimately rushed in to rescue three children still in the building.

The legislative citations were offered jointly by Sen. Berthel, Sen. Joan Hartley (D-15), Rep. Joe Polletta (R-68) and Rep. Ron Napoli, Jr (D-73). Also on hand were Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary, AMR Regional Director of Connecticut Chris Chaplin, Global Medical Response VP Northeast Region Charles Babson III and Waterbury Hospital Chief Operating Officer and SVP Mark Holtz.

“I was honored as a state senator and former longtime AMR Waterbury employee to present citations to two young men from the department—Keith Slater and Michael Messenger—for their act of heroism and bravery earlier this month,” he said.

“This citation represents the thanks and gratitude of the 3.6 million people of Connecticut. These brave young men are examples of hoe EMT’s and paramedics, along with police and fire, are so vital to our community safety net.”