Las Vegas Fire and Rescue honored one of their firefighters and his wife for their life-saving efforts while they were on vacation last year.
Firefighter/paramedic John Martinolich and his wife Shelley were driving toward Arizona on U.S. 95 on Dec. 10, 2020 when they came across a deadly crash
“I remember it being a beautiful Sunday morning as we left our house only to have to turn back for five minutes as we forgot something that day. Little did I know that five minutes would change our lives forever," Martinolich told Fox5Vegas.com. I remember pulling up to the scene and getting out and seeing you know what we saw and the first thing I could think of is I didn’t want my wife to see this."
A box truck had just struck a number of bicyclists and the Martinolich's jumped into action to help, first by calling 9-1-1.
The firefighter grabbed his a medical bag from his car and began treating the injured, with Shelley assisting him.
The first emergency crews reached the scene 25 minutes after Martinolich called for help.
Five cyclists were killed in the horrific crash.
At a Las Vegas Fire and Rescue ceremony Friday, the Martinolich's were among 131 who were honored. John was awarded the Medal of Honor and Shelley received the Citizen Life Saving Award.
"As paramedics we rely heavily on EMT partners, it can make or break you on a scene," John said after receiving the award. "My wife was my EMT partner that day even with no medical training she stayed calm, did what I asked and went above and beyond. All this while wearing gloves three times of the size of her hands, I just want to say honey I am proud of you."
“I feel like over the years I have been able to solve any problem from all the things that I’ve done, and this one was just one I was like- what am I going to do here I have no idea how I’m going to solve this so we just did the best that we could," Martinolich said.
