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A Vallejo firefighter used his life-saving skills last week to save a woman from downing during a family vacation in Hawaii.
Ramon Villanueva was at a lagoon in Oahu when he noticed a 60- to 70-year-old woman face down in the water and not moving, said Vallejo Fire Department Public Information Officer Anthony Shair-Ali.
Villanueva, with the help of an Army Corpsman and another man, pulled the woman out of the water.
When she was finally on dry land, Villanueva determined the woman had agonal respirations as advanced life support would be needed to keep her alive. He placed the woman on her side to drain her lungs and directed bystanders to call 9-1-1.
Villanueva stayed with the woman until local paramedics arrived and took her to a hospital.
The woman’s family later personally thanked Villanueva and credited him with saving their mother’s life, Shair-Ali said.
“The fire department is very proud of Ramon and some kind of award ceremony for him is still in the planning stages,” said Vallejo Firefighter Kevin Brown.
Brown also said Villanueva was very humble about the incident, refusing to reveal many details about what happened and saying it was “no big deal.”
“We got the majority of the details when one of our employees called the manager there where it happened,” Brown said. “Ramon was like, ‘don’t worry about it.’”
Villanueva was hired in 2014 and is still currently in the apprentice stage of his training, which typically lasts for the first three years of a firefighter’s career.
