Firefighter Tim Dowdy (left) presents Tanner Baughn (right) a Life Saving Award at Fire District 4.
courtesy Fire District 4
SNOHOMISH — Fire District #4 recently awarded teenager Tanner Baughn for heroically rescuing a friend in trouble at Pilchuck Park.
On June 29, Baughn and his friend were at a church event happening on one of the baseball fields. His friend suddenly collapsed, and after a few minutes of him not waking, everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.
“When he fell, I thought he twisted his ankle or something, I didn’t even realize at first (that) it was more serious. We thought he was just having a seizure so I was pretty calm, but after a few minutes, we realized that we had to do CPR,” Baughn said.
Someone else attending the event had started doing CPR, but Baughn stepped in when he noticed that it wasn’t being done correctly. His uncle trained him in CPR previously. Remaining calm, Baughn proceeded to do CPR until the first ambulance from Fire District #4 arrived.
“I had something to focus on so I was able to stay pretty calm, I’m sure it was much more stressful for everyone watching. It didn’t even really hit me until the paramedics got there,” Baughn said.
Fire Lt. Darrell Heike and his crew applied a defibrillator to the friend, and his blood pressure and pulse became stable once again. He was transported to a nearby hospital by ambulance.
“We are very proud of the work Tanner did, jumping in there to do CPR for his friend. A lot of people aren’t willing to jump in and do that and that probably helped (his friend) a lot,” Heike said.
During the incident, the Snohomish Pilchuckers, coached by Jesse Podoll, were practicing on a nearby field. The team watched the many ambulances and fire trucks drive by and witnessed Baughn giving CPR. From their point of view, it was a calmer incident, as there was something bad going on but with no yelling or screaming. Knowing one of the firemen, Podoll was able to relay helpful information to the crew about the park and ultimately help the ambulances get closer to the incident. Although Podoll and the team never actually got close to the event, they were able to help from the sidelines and assist the fire crew in any way possible.
“After that, our boys were, I don’t want to say shaken up, but we definitely didn’t finish practice. We kind of just wrapped it up and went home, it was definitely not something you see at a normal baseball practice,” Podoll said.
Baughn has confirmed that his friend is alive and well after his scary incident at Pilchuck Park. After using his CPR skills and quick thinking to keep his friend alive while awaiting professional help, Baughn earned a Lifesaving Award, given by the crew at Fire District #4. The award was presented on July 6 at the Fire District #4 headquarters.
“The thing I learned was that we all should know how to do CPR, you never know when you will be in a situation where you may need to do it,” Baughn said.
