Two youngsters honored Monday by Security Fire Department for heroism during emergencies
EL PASO COUTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- For the third time this summer, local kids received awards for being calm and helpful during stressful situations in which lives of family members were saved.
The Security Fire Department will presented two boys -- Liam Gordon and Daniel Wutzke -- with 911 Hero Awards during a ceremony Monday afternoon at the new Station 4.
Wutzke, 9, is credited with helping relay information to dispatchers when his mother initially called 911 but had trouble breathing and was unable to speak.
"I knew that if you panic, things can get a lot worse," he said. "So you should always stay calm and breathe."
Mellisa Wutzke, Daniel's mother, said that she had a respiratory ailment that was worse than it ever had been.
"It's reaffirming that what we were doing was right this whole time, by constantly having conversations with him about safety," she explained. "I work at the Colorado Springs Fire Department, so we have those conversations often."
Gordon, 15, came to the aid of his younger brother in March when he had a seizure and couldn't breathe; with the family in panic, Gordon called 911 and calmly provided dispatchers with necessary information until help arrived, then helped settle his family down.
"My mom was giving him chest compressions, and the 9--1-1 operator didn't want her to do that," he recalled. "So, it hurt him and that's when I told her to stop. And then, everyone was screaming. So I told them to just calm down."
Gordon's parents said they're thankful for their son's actions.
He's always been that person who takes charge, been a role model for his brothers and sisters this whole time," said father James Gordon.
Mother Cassandra Caddell said that being a former El Paso County sheriff's deputy didn't help her cope with the situation.
"I'm trained to do CPR.," she said. "But when it's your own child, it's completely different."
A third boy, Liam VadBunker, was 11 when his younger brother had a seizure in April; he called 911, explained the situation to dispatchers and made sure that his brother was breathing until first responders arrived.
However, VadBunker couldn't be present because of another family emergency, but authorities said that they would honor him at a later date.
The awards were presented by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and the El Paso Teller 911 Authority; each boy received a certificate, coin and medallion.
"When I hear about circumstances like this, where younger people are on the other end of the phone, answering all the questions that our dispatchers need to ask, it makes me proud," said Undersheriff Jeff Kramer.
