4 Firefighters to Be Honored for Courage

Four Orange County firefighters will be honored Monday for exemplifying “dedication and professionalism under fire.”

The 1997 Courage Under Fire Awards will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at J.T. Schmidt’s Brewhouse and Eatery, 2610 E. Katella Ave., across from the Pond in Anaheim.

Richard Chavez, president of the Anaheim Firefighters’ Assn., which is helping to organize the event, said that the firefighters were chosen by their peers for exceptional bravery and courage on the job.

“There isn’t a firefighter in the county who hasn’t been in a dangerous situation,” Chavez said.

The event is open to the public. Tickets are $15 and will be available at the door. Proceeds will benefit The Eli Home for Abused Children and the Orange County Burn Assn.

The recipients are:

* Firefighter-Paramedic Christopher Boyd, 30, and Firefighter Mike Shatzel, 49, of the Orange Fire Department.

Boyd, an eight-year member, and Shatzel, an 18-year veteran, teamed up to rescue occupants of a burning home Nov. 14. They searched the house and found an 84-year-old man on a bed, already dead. They continued the search and pulled out an 81-year-old woman, who was placed on life support but died at the hospital.

* Capt. Tom Wall, 42, of the Orange County Fire Authority.

Wall was off duty when he used a garden hose to save a neighbor’s house. Wall, an 18-year veteran, was at his Santa Ana home watching television when his son alerted him about the blaze May 8.

He crawled into the burning house and used the garden hose to keep the fire from spreading. By the time firefighters arrived, the blaze was confined to the family room.

* Capt. Jim Yost, 41, of the Anaheim Fire Department.

The 26-year firefighter fell through the roof of a burning apartment building March 31. He suffered a small scratch on his neck and burned his fingertips on the balcony railing outside the building. Yost went back to work to fight the blaze that left about 100 homeless and destroyed 31 apartment units.

Tickets and information: (714) 997-2410.