Shelton's Echo Hose and Ladder and Military Hero Alfred Meadows to be Honored Friday at Red Cross Ceremony

Military hero Alfred Meadows, of Huntington, will be honored on Friday at the American Red Cross’ Community Heroes Breakfast, along with Echo Hose Hook and Ladder Company 1 of Shelton.

Meadows is a U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart Medal recipient who served in the Republic of Korea and Vietnam conflicts, according to a release from the American Red Cross. He also founded “Operation Gift Cards,” a charitable organization that has sent more than 17,000 thank you kits worth over more than $800,000 to wounded soldiers and military support groups.

The Spirit of the Red Cross Award will be presented to The Echo Hose Hook & Ladder Company 1, in Shelton, “for their extraordinary work at a major fire in Shelton, in which they successfully evacuated 28 residents from the building, directly rescuing five of those residents,” according to a news release.

The Echo Hose Hook and Ladder Company 1 was dispatched around midnight on January 5 for an alarm at a mixed occupancy building on Howe Ave. Echo Hose Captain Mike Plavcan shared the events of that freezing winter night.

“Upon arrival, units were alerted to a broken water pipe in the building, but soon after discovered a basement fire in one of the businesses. Heavy smoke billowed out of multiple apartments above the businesses. Multiple occupants were trapped inside the apartments. A coordinated effort was made by all crew members to successfully evacuate a total of 28 residents. Five of those residents were directly rescued and the other 23 were assisted to safety within the first few moments of the rapidly progressing fire, which had spread throughout the walls and all floors of the -old building, speeded by the balloon-frame wood construction.”

Plavcan said the members of the Echo Hose Hook and Ladder “are very grateful to be nominated for this award” and that they were “very grateful to be nominated.”

The 16th annual American Red Cross Community Heroes Breakfast will take place on Friday, Jan. 30, in Stamford. Five honorees from Fairfield, Huntington, Norwalk, Shelton, Stamford and Westport will be honored.

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