Longboat firefighter receives rare Medal of Honor award for action

It was a happy day for Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi.

On Thursday, Dezzi got to present awards to firefighter paramedics and others who support Longboat Key Fire Rescue’s efforts.

“The best part of my job is recognizing firefighters,” Dezzi said after the ceremony. “A lot of the time, you don’t get a pat on the back for what you do there because firefighters are expected to do it. The alarm goes off, they’re expected to go out there and take care of the situation. But behind the scenes we know that they’re doing extraordinary work from life saving to putting out fires to going out and doing inspections and non-emergency calls. Making sure that these guys know they’re valued as part of the organization is important to me.”

The ceremony included Dezzi handing out Phoenix awards, recognizing the employee of the year, swearing in firefighters who had promotions and even handing out a Medal of Honor.

Photo by S.T. Cardinal

The Fire Department does not give the latter award liberally. Dezzi, promoted to Fire Chief in 2010, said this year’s Medal of Honor presented to Aaron Maness was only the second time he has presented the award.

Maness received recognition for his work leading the response to a submerged vehicle in March. The electric Mustang had been accidentally driven off a marina and into the water, Maness recalls.

“It was submerged for about two minutes. (The driver) was unconscious when we got there,” Maness said. “Everybody went into game mode when we got there. It was a great team effort.”

Maness said when Fire Rescue arrived, a bystander had pulled the driver from the vehicle and was holding her head above water. 

Maness, Andre Hoefer and Chris O’Brien pulled her onto a floating dock, onto land and stabilized her using a chest compression machine, an airway device and administered an IV while Bayflight was en route. 

Maness said he made the call to have Bayflight handle transportation, which reduced the time it took to get to the hospital for treatment.

“I knew what time of day it was. I knew there was traffic especially getting over the bridge,” Maness said.

Accepting the award humbly, Maness gave credit to all the firefighter paramedics who responded, the Bayflight crew, the bystander who jumped in to help and hospital staff who worked to ensure the driver and passenger made full recoveries.

A Fire Rescue crew receives Phoenix awards when they respond to a cardiac arrest scene, revive a victim who has no pulse or isn’t breathing, and then release the victim from the hospital. 

Receiving Phoenix awards were Jason Berzowski, Trey Bowlin, Hoefer, Derek Flaim, O’Brien, Jay Gosnell, Richard Roome, Josh Moss and Richard Traugott — and Lt. Daniel Heath.

Photo by S.T. Cardinal

Longboat Key Club tennis center employees Ali Cruz, Casey Melton, Katelinn Wurm, and Maraj Prakash were also awarded for their part in saving a life when a pickleball player collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest while playing at the courts. 

The four employees received accommodation certificates. Larry Phillips of local TV news station ABC 7 received the same award as did the Sarasota County Communications team for its work sharing news in the wake of the 2024 hurricanes. Also, the Longboat Key Communications team received recognition for its work to increase transparency and for elevating the level of communications of the department.

The department also awarded two unit citations to 10 firefighter paramedics for their responses to a boat fire and a garbage truck fire. 

Both were harrowing situations, with natural gas on the garbage truck and lithium ion batteries complicating the operations.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital staff received the Fire Chief Award and Individual Accommodation Certificates for their work, along with Dr. Richard Brown and staff, studying and protecting firefighters from potential cancerous hazards and the hospital's implementation of a wellness program tailored to LKFD.

Photo by S.T. Cardinal

The department awarded firefighter paramedic Ron Franklin the employee of the year award.

Dezzi said Franklin “consistently goes above and beyond,” taking on projects to keep equipment running smoothly and acting as “the MacGyver of B-shift.” His mechanical prowess was shared without ever being asked, Dezzi explained.

“Over the past year he has taken on numerous projects that directly improved the safety, readiness and efficiency of our operations,” Dezzi said.

He even fixed the station coffee maker.