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Mostly Cloudy Bellmore’s super hero
Vice president honors firefighter for heroism
John Curley, a career firefighter and a former chief of the volunteer Bellmore Fire Department, was with his adult son just before 8 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2012. He was driving a department vehicle on his way to pick up a new boiler to replace one that Hurricane Sandy damaged at Engine Company No. 2 in south Bellmore.
He never made it.
At 7:39 a.m., Bellmore received a call about a house fire with a trapped occupant on nearby Shore Road. Curley didn’t hesitate in responding. With a filing cabinet and a broken ladder, he fashioned a scaffold to rescue a 92-year-old woman trapped behind the flames.
He had no protective gear.
“Why?” Vice President Joe Biden asked at a special White House ceremony on Feb. 11, at which Curley and other heroes were presented with the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor - the highest award given to first responders. “I know it was your duty, but … the odds were not real great.”
Curley and the other honorees “acted instinctively,” Biden said. “We all wish there was more we could do than just merely honor you and give you a medal,” he noted.
In all, Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder presented 22 first responders, including Curley, with the Medal of Valor. The award, authorized by the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Act of 2001, is presented to first responders who exhibit exceptional courage, without regard to their personal safety, in attempting to save or protect human life. In all, 95 medals have been presented since the first recipients were honored in 2003.
The president, or his representative, awards the medals to public safety officers cited by the attorney general. Those officers are nominated by the chiefs or directors of their agencies and recommended by the Medal of Valor Review Board.
Curley was notified a year ago that he was a candidate for the award. When he learned that he would receive the honor in Washington, D.C., he was shocked, he recalled.
“Once you’re in the White House, you realize you’re with some pretty elite people,” he said. “To be put in that same category was pretty cool … The actions of the other recipients were really impressive. I was definitely standing … with super heroes.”
