A few months ago a friend said to me: "Til, thanks, you saved my wife!" He went on and explained how I saved his wife’s life. My friend said that after a 911 telephone call reporting that his wife was having a heart attack, the paramedics were at his house in three minutes administering to his wife.
In 1974, after a residential fire on Crestview Drive in Millbrae, which almost totally destroyed a house, I became interested in placing a second fire station bond issue on the ballot in Millbrae. The city had been given a lot for a fire station across the street from the house, which was destroyed by fire. It took about 15 minutes for the fire fighting equipment to get to the burning house. I contacted a group of neighbors and formed the second fire station bond committee. I was nominated chairman of the bond issue. We placed the issue on the March 5, 1974 ballot. The bond issue passed, 2,268 for and 1,201 against. Millbrae was going to have another fire station in the upper area of Millbrae, on Crestview Drive.
During the campaign, I decided to run for City Council and was elected, and later I served as mayor. One of the main issues in the election was providing fast emergency services to residents from the downtown fire station would be a challenge. A fire station in the upper level of Millbrae would be able to respond quickly, and thus save lives.
Unfortunately, this has been a bad year for me. I have lost the use of my legs and need to use a wheelchair. On Wednesday, Dec. 15, I woke up with a swollen left leg. My wife Jeanne telephoned the Kaiser advice nurse and was able to get an appointment with a doctor at 10 a.m. Jeanne backed out our car, I was able to get into the passenger front seat using my wheelchair. My wife closed the door and prepared to get into the driver’s seat. I had a seizure and lost my breath, I could not breathe. Jeanne immediately telephoned 911. The Millbrae Fire Department responded in about three minutes, and administered oxygen to me. Fireman Paul Lara connected the oxygen and checked my blood pressure, pulse etc. I was back to breathing in a short period of time. Paul Lara had been a student of mine while I was a teacher at Capuchino High School! I was then transported to Kaiser Hospital in South San Francisco.
I found it interesting that at this time in my life, that the second fire station that I helped promote in 1974 was instrumental in saving my life.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.