Buffalo Grove honors heroic first responders

Buffalo Grove honored three firefighters who saved four people from a burning building in Arlington Heights last month.

Lt. Daniel Downey, Firefighter/Paramedic Phil Schroeder and Firefighter/Paramedic Kyle Ditthardt responded to a townhouse fire on the 1500 block of Pheasant Trail Lane the evening of Aug. 14 where they encountered multiple individuals trapped in the building.

For their actions that night rescuing the four people trapped, all three received a Buffalo Grove fire unit citation at Monday’s Buffalo Grove Village Board meeting.

Arlington Heights firefighters were already stretching a hose line to the location of the fire when Buffalo Grove’s Tower Ladder 25 arrived.

Downey immediately sized up the building and located multiple people trapped on the balcony at the rear of the building with heavy heat and smoke heading toward their location.

Spotting the immediate danger, he called for a ladder to the rear of the building.

Meanwhile, Schroeder brought a ladder to the rear of the building and raised it to two of the trapped occupants.

Ditthardt brought another ground ladder to the rear of the building to rescue occupants in a separate balcony.

Downey and Schroeder then gained entry to the building and completed a search of the units, while facing high heat and heavy smoke.

Authorities called it a kitchen fire and said one resident suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation trying to extinguish the blaze and was transported to a hospital for treatment. No other injuries were reported.