Submitted photo Members of the Cardinal Joint Fire District and other local fire departments received training in vehicle extraction at the Canfield Fairgrounds this week in an event hosted by CJFD. Metalico of Youngstown donated 30 vehicles for the training.

CANFIELD — A delegation of 10 members of the Cardinal Joint Fire District’s EMS team made a trip to Columbus Wednesday, where they were recognized by the Ohio Emergency Medical Services and issued the Star of Life Award.

The Ohio EMS is a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety. The division helps set standards and certification for emergency medical responders in Ohio. Each year, they receive hundreds and even thousands of nominations, but only select the top few for the award, according to CJFD Chief Don Hutchison.

“I nominated our whole crew,” he said. “I have seen the crews we have in Canfield save a lot of lives. They deserve this award. There were only nine recipients selected this year.”

The nomination stemmed from the Oct. 16 crash that took the life of Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper Nicholas Cayton of the Canfield post and nearly took the life of a truck driver. It was the quick and professional actions of the CJFD crew that saved the driver’s life, Hutchinson said.

“I was first on the scene and had to take charge,” said CJFD Capt. Josh Grossman. “We had to do something extraordinary and use our bags and some cribbing to raise a trailer off the truck driver. The driver was struck and dragged 75 feet and was trapped under the trailer wheels.”

He said the crew split their duties, with some raising the trailer while the other personnel placed tourniquets on both of the truck driver’s legs. The equipment used had the ability to lift 35,000 to 40,000 pounds, and Grossman said the trailer was thankfully empty.

Once the driver was freed, he was taken to the CJFD ambulance and was stabilized before moving him to an awaiting helicopter. When all was said and done, the CJFD EMS crew was credited with saving the driver’s life.

In Columbus this week, Grossman and a crew of nine accepted the award. The crew included the fire district secretary Sherry LaRosa, medical director Dr. John Hill, and crew members Pete Oberacker, Ian Vandegrift, Justin Hofstetter, Geo Melia, Herb Fogle, Matt Rarick and Dom Reinthaler.

Grossman said each CJFD EMS responder received a pin for their uniform and the district received an award to display at Station 2.

“It’s humbling,” Grossman said. “This is not something we look for. It is like the medal of honor to our profession.”

Hutchison said he is extremely proud of what his crews do every day.

This week was National EMS Week and the CJFD made it a busy one.

“We submitted our name to Citizen First to host a training event,” Grossman said. “Citizens First covered the cost to provide trainers and materials for an auto extraction training session.”

He said the session took place at the Canfield Fairgrounds for three days and was available to other departments in the area.

Vehicles used in the training were provided by Metalico, a scrapyard in Youngstown.

“They provided us with 10 cars each day,” Grossman said.

The training gave responders a chance to use and improve their skills for vehicle rescues.