Saving lives its own reward for two firefighters

Since he was a kid, Adam McLendon wanted to be a fireman and paramedic.

“I thought it was exciting and would be very rewarding,” said McLendon, a firefighter who worked with the town of Taylor and the City of Ozark prior to joining the Dothan Fire Department five years ago.

His young co-worker did not grow up with the same childhood vision, but Brad Strickland gradually got into the work, and found it suited him just fine.

“I didn’t start off as a kid wanting to be a firefighter. I graduated high school and went to Wallace College and joined the Army National Guard. I volunteered with the Headland Fire Department,” Strickland said.

Then came that day when a family returning from the beach crashed on U.S. 431 near Newville. Strickland was one of the Headland firefighters who responded to the call for help. One victim was trapped in the vehicle. In all, six were injured – one fatally.

“I was glad I knew what I was doing,” said Strickland, who joined the Dothan Fire Department in 2007 after spending two years with the Eufaula department.

Both men were recognized by the city during Emergency Medical Services Week recently for going beyond their job descriptions.

McLendon, 35, was named Paramedic of the Year. He is assigned to Station 6 on Napier Field Road. Strickland, 28, who works at Station 1, Central, was named the John T. Ingram EMT of the Year.

Fire Chief Larry Williams said the two men were nominated by their peers and supervisors. Both men, he said, are worthy of the honor.

“Adam absolutely loves being a paramedic,” Williams said. “He has a good bedside manner and treats people with respect. He gives thorough assessments and has excellent skills.”

And there are times when he’s gone above and beyond.

Fellow firefighters tell the story of how McLendon responded to a call of an infant with severe respiratory problems. The baby was hospitalized and the parents were not allowed to bring the child home until they had breathing equipment in place, and the skill to operate it.

McLendon borrowed a CPR dummy and trained the parents on his own time so they could more quickly be reunited with their child.

“The child had quit breathing,” McLendon recalls. “Things like that, being able to use my knowledge and help somebody out, it’s a real good feeling.”

He remembers other lives saved – a 3-year old “we got back” and a 27-year-old woman who was gone. Restoring life, he smiles, “It’s real rewarding.”

Williams describes Strickland as a very aggressive employee who “works real hard to do his best. He is a part of the team and has to be led very little.”

Strickland said when he is working, he doesn’t stop to wonder if he is doing a good job. Saving lives, he said, is just part of the job.

“It’s just part of the job,” McLendon repeated.

While their job titles are “firefighter,” 80 percent of the calls they answer are medical and not fire calls.

Strickland and McLendon are among 168 Dothan Fire Department firefighters, all of whom are trained emergency medical technicians. Dothan is one of only a few departments in the state which requires that every firefighter go through EMT training.

Eighty Dothan firefighters are also paramedics. Strickland begins paramedic training in June.

“During EMS Week, we like to pause to thank everybody in the fire department for the jobs they do,” Williams said. “These awards are a way to recognize those who excelled on the job.”

The EMT award is named for John Ingram, a Dothan firefighter who was killed in a motorcycle accident in Panama City in 2001.