Newtown resident and longtime Hook & Ladder volunteer and officer Jason Rivera will receive one of the nation's most prestigious honors from his peers April 18 at an international firefighters' convention in Indiana, for his actions at a March 2015 fire where he was working as a member of New Haven Fire Department.The Newtown Bee.Fire Engineering, with details confirmed by Mr Rivera, he entered the building dragging hose and made a push under high heat and zero visibility up the building's interior stairs.Smashing The Wall[/naviga:h4]Sequence Of Events[/naviga:h3]Fire Engineering Editor in Chief Bobby Halton told The Bee that Mr Rivera's actions were quite extraordinary in that instead of pulling out of the fire when he began to feel burning pain under his protective clothing, he continued to support his fellow firefighters to ensure they located the trapped victim, and all got out of the burning structure safely.

Mr Rivera will receive the 2016 Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award during opening ceremonies of the FDIC (Fire Department Instructors Conference) International 2016, which will be taking place April 18-23 in Indianapolis. He is being recognized for his tenacity and quick actions during that residential structure fire in New Haven during a harrowing rescue attempt of one of the occupants of the burning structure, during which he received several serious burn injuries.

At the time of the incident that led to Mr Rivera's honor, he was only eight months into his one-year probationary term in New Haven after 18 years serving as a municipal firefighter in Stamford, and at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.

After transferring to New Haven, he was assigned to the city's busiest company in the Dixwell neighborhood, and was already familiar with the narrow, one-way street he was heading to when the first call about the blaze came in around midnight.

It was the second major structure fire he had responded to during his shift, and he said he knew from hearing the address that he and his colleagues would be faced with several challenges.

"We had a significant amount of snow piled up on both sides of the street, and I wasn't even sure we could get the engine down to the fire when we turned in because of all the parked cars that were pushing out into the narrow travel lane," he related during a visit to

It turned out there was just enough room to maneuver the pumper truck into the street, but firefighters had to climb over and around tightly parked cars as they exited the apparatus. That is when Mr Rivera and his crew learned there was a resident trapped in the burning duplex.

To complicate matters further, the ladder company that should have accompanied Mr Rivera's Engine 6 to the fire and handled primary rescue duties had been dispatched to another call moments earlier, "so we were basically on our own those first few minutes," Mr Rivera recalled.

According to a release in the firefighting trade publication

On the way up the stairs to the second floor, firefighters encountered heavy hoarding conditions and falling debris, which Mr Rivera said included dozens of melting vinyl LP records that were littering the stairs in his path. Around the same time the incident commander learned that the hydrant they were trying to tap was frozen, so the only water supply immediately available was the 500-gallon tank on Engine 6.

Mr Rivera continued to push in and extinguish the heavy fire until his hose became hung up at the coupling. He was asked to try to hold his position while his lieutenant attempted to correct the hose line issue.

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Having a hand tool and knowing that another responding engine crew was attempting to gain access to the third-floor stairs where the victim was thought to be, Mr Rivera, still alone in zero visibility with high heat pushing down on him, smashed through the wall from the living room to the kitchen.

He then alternated shooting water into the hole and in front of him into the kitchen, which was also burning. Managing his limited supply of tank water, Mr Rivera held his position despite the fact that his body was burning.

According to the nomination application for the award, Mr Rivera's actions helped relieve the fire that was preventing the other engine crew from reaching the victim. And as a result of his actions and quick thinking under extreme duress and escalating physical pain, his colleagues quickly located the unresponsive male victim and evacuated him to a rear yard.

As the other engine team removed the victim from the still burning structure, Engine 6 completely ran out of water. So Mr Rivera backed down to the bottom of the stairs to wait for a water line to be reestablished.

Once the fire was mostly extinguished, Mr Rivera discovered that the increasing discomfort he was feeling was coming from severe burns on his knees, waist, wrists, and legs. The injuries were significant enough for Mr Rivera to be out of work for several weeks while he recovered.

Although there were no obvious burn marks on any of his protective clothing, Mr Rivera said that after trudging through knee-deep snow, he believes the melting snow became so hot in that confined hallway, that it reached the 212 degrees required to turn it into steam, which caused the worst burns on his legs.

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Looking back on the incident, Mr Rivera concluded that had it not been for the sequence of events including having no immediate rescue backup, the frozen hose, a likely trapped victim, and the extremely tight physical conditions facing him in the burning staircase, the call would have been more of a routine structure fire like he had responded to many times previously.

However, colleague Frank Ricci, who nominated Mr Rivera for the Downey award, stated in his nomination letter that Mr Rivera "exemplifies the highest traditions of the fire service. Jason is honorable, humble, dedicated and an extraordinarily courageous firefighter. He is the type of smart, aggressive firefighter you want by your side."

Unfortunately, according to Mr Rivera, the victim died after he was transported to a local hospital.

"You normally read about the firefighters who carry out the victim, but it was firefighter Rivera's actions that enabled his brother firefighters to locate the victim as quickly as they did and evacuate him and themselves safely," Mr Halton said. "He should know that we and his colleagues everywhere are very proud of him, and he is so highly deserving of the honor."

The Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award commemorates the life and career achievements of FDNY Deputy Chief Ray Downey, who lost his life while commanding rescue operations at the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.

Deputy Chief Downey was chief of rescue operations and a 39-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York at the time of his death. He was the most highly decorated firefighter in the history of FDNY.