08/14/2026
Last night, Lake Valley Fire hosted a Commendation Ceremony and Badge Pinning, we had a lot to celebrate. The Commendation Ceremony was to recognize the men and women who responded to a motor vehicle accident on Echo Summit on February 16, 2026. Through the heroic actions of civilian bystanders and First Responders, a life was saved that day. We were honored to be able to recognize the 22 people involved in the incident. Not everyone was able to make it to the ceremony, but they were all recognized and those not in attendance will receive their awards at a later date.
We were also able to celebrate the badge pinning of our two newest Firefighters, Russell Kaczmar and Jake Hickman. We are so excited to welcome Jake and Russell and their families to the Lake Valley Fire family.
Congratulations to Jake and Russell and thank you once again to those involved in the response on February 16, 2026. Someone is alive today because of their actions. Please see below for a narrative of the incident and a list of all those involved.
LAKE VALLEY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT
Commendation Ceremony — Echo Summit Traumatic Arrest Field Save
THE INCIDENT — FEBRUARY 16, 2026
It was Presidents’ Day, a Monday afternoon, in the middle of a severe winter storm. The roads over Echo Summit were ice and packed snow. It was a perfect storm of bad weather coupled with a busy President’s Day weekend, the roads were pure chaos everywhere you looked. Our crews were already committed; dispatched to a vehicle-versus-pedestrian accident at Sierra-at-Tahoe Road, when Dispatch advised of a second accident: US Highway 50 at Johnson Pass Road. Multiple 911 calls. Reports of at least three patients, two of them pinned under a vehicle.
Three people had stopped on the highway to help a stranded driver put on tire chains. Three strangers, standing in a snowstorm, helping someone they had never met. A half-ton pickup lost traction on the grade, slid out of control, and struck all three of them. Two were run over and trapped beneath the truck.
What happened next is the reason we are here tonight.
Before a single fire engine arrived, bystanders acted. Bradley Haas, a retired fire captain from Marin County, and a crew of Caltrans workers pulled both victims out from under that truck and immediately started CPR, in the wind, in the snow, on an icy highway. They didn’t hesitate. They didn’t wait. They narrowed the gap between injury and care during the most time-sensitive minutes a patient in cardiac arrest will ever have.
Lake Valley Fire District Battalion Chief Chuck Malone established command and split our resources across two simultaneous incidents without missing a beat. Engine 7 and Medic 7 took over care of the first patient; a traumatic full arrest, and had him packaged and loaded in nine minutes. Nine minutes. And before that ambulance left the scene, he had a pulse again. Engine 6 and CalTahoeEMS Medic 1 treated the second patient, run over with serious injuries, and got him to Barton code-3. CALFIRE Engine 2756 and CalTahoeEMS Medic 3 cared for and transported the third patient. Behind all of it, our South Lake Tahoe Public Safety Dispatchers were managing a flood of 911 calls on two incidents at once, feeding us accurate information the entire time.
Thirty-one years in this profession has taught me that a save like this is never one person’s doing. It is a chain: bystanders, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, a hospital, and that day, not a single link failed.
PRESENTATION OF AWARDS
Letter of Commendation-
The Letter of Commendation formally recognizes professionalism and dedication that contributed meaningfully to a positive outcome. For their response and patient care under extreme winter storm conditions, I present the Letter of Commendation to the crews of Engine 2756 and Medic 3:
Captain Tyson Hamilton — CALFIRE Engine 2756
Fire Apparatus Engineer Chris Hood — CALFIRE Engine 2756
Paramedic William Straub — Medic 3
EMT John Fullbright — Medic 3
Chief’s Commendation Award-
The Chief’s Commendation Award recognizes skill and dedication essential to this District’s mission. Two of tonight’s recipients never set foot on that highway — they were the calm voices managing multiple 911 callers across two simultaneous incidents, and this response does not succeed without them. I present the Chief’s Commendation Award to:
Paramedic David Mudrik — Medic 1
Paramedic Michal Goodison — Medic 1
Dispatcher Jillian Gard — South Lake Tahoe Dispatch
Dispatcher Samantha Williams — South Lake Tahoe Dispatch
Chief’s Commendation Medal-
The Chief’s Commendation Medal is reserved for District personnel whose performance greatly contributed to the outcome of an incident. The crew of Engine 6 assumed care of a patient who had been run over by a truck; and their work is a large part of why he recovered. I present the Chief’s Commendation Medal to:
Captain Dylan Yuzbick —Lake Valley Engine 6
Engineer Wade Corbett — Lake Valley Engine 6
Firefighter/Paramedic Nicholas Mikovich — Lake Valley Engine 6
Lifesaving Award-
This next award carries a simple inscription: “Someone is alive today because you chose to act.” None of these next six people were obligated to do what they did. They pulled two victims from beneath a truck and performed CPR in a blizzard before we ever arrived. Every one of my firefighters will tell you the same thing: the patient survived because of what happened before we got there. I present the Lifesaving Award to:
Bradley Haas — Fire Firefighter (Retired), Marin County Fire
Jason McDonald — Caltrans
Mattew Loesher — Caltrans
Amber Stoddard — Caltrans
John Birtwhistle — Caltrans
Alexis Martinez — EMT Ride-Along
Medal for Lifesaving-
Our final award is the highest honor presented tonight. The Medal for Lifesaving, recognizes actions in the line of duty that directly led to the saving of a human life. These five members took over a traumatic cardiac arrest on an iced-over highway in a winter storm, and inside of nine minutes had their patient packaged, loaded, and, before the ambulance pulled away, back with a pulse. That is as fine a piece of fireground medicine as I have seen in thirty-one years. I present the Medal for Lifesaving to:
Battalion Chief Charles Malone — Battalion 7, Incident Commander
Captain Dusty La Chapelle — Lake Valley Engine 7
Engineer Michael Anderson — Lake Valley Engine 7
Firefighter/Paramedic Andrew Litzinger — Lake Valley Medic 7
Firefighter/EMT Anthony DeMarta — Lake Valley Medic 7
CLOSING
Ladies and gentlemen, look around this room. Firefighters. Paramedics. Dispatchers. Highway workers. A retired Fire Fighter who was simply driving over the summit that day. Not one of them woke up on February 16th expecting to save a life. Every one of them did.
Success on an incident like this is never the result of one action or one agency. It is the product of teamwork, of preparation, and of people stepping up when it matters most. That afternoon on Echo Summit, everyone stepped up, and somewhere tonight, because they did, a man gets to have dinner with his family.
To our recipients: this District is proud of you. I am proud of you. Congratulations.
Thank you.
John McNamara
Fire Chief, Lake Valley Fire Protection District
