4 Honored for Rescue of Teen From Tower

Four Ventura County rescue workers received the California State Firefighters’ Assn. Medal of Valor on Monday for their efforts to save a severely burned teenager shocked while rappelling from an electrical tower in March.

Two Ventura County firefighters, David Pumphrey and Scott Hall, and two Southern California Edison employees, Tom Lapp and Bob Martinez, were presented the awards during a noon ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Incline Village, on the northern shore of Lake Tahoe.

“This is probably one of the highest honors because it’s voted statewide by their peers,” said Ventura County Fire Chief Robert Roper.

Roper said firefighters and others who perform beyond the call of duty or risk death while saving lives are first nominated by their peers within the county for the annual award, prior to a statewide vote by association members.

The only higher honor presented to rescue workers, police or civilians who risk their lives for others is the Governor’s Medal of Valor, Roper said.

The four men, all county residents, braved high winds and risked electrocution while rescuing 17-year-old Michael Halsell of Newbury Park from a 175-foot-high tower bearing high-tension power lines near the Ventura Freeway.

Halsell had been practicing rappelling down the tower with two friends when he was jolted by 220,000 volts of electricity and received second- and third-degree burns over 85% of his body.

Halsell died of his injuries two weeks later at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital.