“NEW BEDFORD – Two City firefighters are being honored for risking their lives to save a disabled man from a burning building.
Acting Lt. Brandon Medeiros and Firefighter Steven Holzer were among the first arriving responders on Engine Company 6 to a structure fire at 30 Welcome St. around 4 p.m. on Nov. 2, 2023. Flames and smoke shot out of third-floor windows of the three-family tenement. With several residents having escaped and watching outside, Act. Lt. Medeiros and Firefighter Holzer were performing an inital size-up of the building when they observed a disabled male trying to exit the building from the rear stairwell, and immediately ran over and carried the man to safety.
Once they carried the man out of harm’s way and into the care of paramedics from New Bedford Emergency Medical Services, they reentered the building with a fire attack hose line to help extinguish the fire. The man was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital, recovered and was released…