Local firefighters honored

SANDPOINT — Two eastern Bonner County firefighters are being awarded the Idaho Medal of Honor for bravery and heroism above and beyond the call of duty.

Capt. Stuart Eigler of the Sam Owen Fire District and Capt. Jeff Piazza of Clark Fork Fire Rescue are set to receive their medals on Saturday during a ceremony at the Idaho Fallen Firefighter Memorial Park in Boise.

The accolade is the highest honor in the state for law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical service providers.

Piazza is being honored for rescuing a dog that sought refuge in a mobile home’s crawl space during a December 2010 fire on Mosquito Creek Road.

Flames were overrunning the structure when the residents advised Piazza that one of their dogs was in the crawl space.

Piazza, who was using a breathing apparatus and clad in personal protective equipment, agreed to shimmy under the home to get the big black dog, which appeared to be a Labrador retriever mix.

“He got a little spooked, probably from seeing the way I was dressed, and crawled further into the trailer,” said Piazza. “It was pretty bright under there because there were flames already protruding through the floor.”

Piazza grabbed hold of the its legs and pulled the dog out. He handed off the animal to the relieved residents and immediately went back to spraying the house down.

Eigler, meanwhile, is being honored for repeatedly swimming to the bottom of Lake Pend Oreille in an attempt to rescue the occupant of a vehicle that crashed into Ellisport Bay last August.

The 1997 Toyota Camry was about 100 feet from shore and in about 24 feet of water. Firefighters from Hope/East Hope and Sam Owen swept the area with a spotlight and caught the reflection of the vehicle’s deployed airbags.

Eigler volunteered to check the vehicle because he is a scuba diver. However, he was without gear and had to free-dive.

Eigler confirmed the location of the car on his first descent. He headed down a second time and got the door open. On his third trip down, Eigler spotted an empty child safety seat and found the drowned 27-year-old driver in the back seat area and brought him up.

Eigler and another volunteer hauled the man back to shore. Eigler made two more dives to confirm nobody was still in the water. A Bonner County Sheriff’s scuba team scoured the area and investigators confirmed that there was only one occupant in the vehicle.

Eigler doesn’t consider his actions too heroic and said he felt comfortable with the risks because he knew the topography of the lakebed and the temperature of the water would not expose him to hypothermia.

“I weighed the pros and cons and gave the guy out there the only chance he was possibly going to have,” said Eigler.

He said the recovery was strikingly similar to scenarios that are depicted in television shows.

“It was almost identical, which is almost a little bit scary relative to the reality of TV,” said Eigler.