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The award reflects a larger mission about what it means to be brave in the face of danger, the magazine said.
According to the magazine, Danbury Fire Chief Richard Thode was packing for a trip on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, when he received a call from another chief alerting him to a trench collapse in Bethel just a half-mile from his home.
The victim was buried by the load and trapped between the plywood of a homemade trench box, the magazine said.
Thode took his wife’s car, without any PPE or radios, and arrived first.
He entered the trench and began to dig with a shovel, where he uncovered the seam between two pieces of plywood. He used a broken two-by-four to create a gap that allowed the victim to breathe.
The victim feared that he was going to die, and Thode reassured him that help was there, despite a large crack that was 15 feet above them in the trench wall. Thode dug by hand until he came across a large rock that pinned down the plywood on the victim.
By then, firefighters arrived and ordered Thode to leave the hole, until they realized who it was. Thode requested a battery-powered spreader as crews prepared equipment above him.
He used the spreader and his legs to move the rock away from the plywood, which relieved some of the pressure on the worker and then called for relief from rescuers.
The entire rescue took three hours, including the use of a vacuum truck, and the victim was removed to the hospital, where he made a full recovery.
“I am extremely proud of Chief Richard Thode for being named Firehouse Magazine’s Grand Prize Winner of the Michael O. McNamee Award of Valor," said Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito.
"His heroic efforts during the trench rescue saved a life and demonstrated how he goes above and beyond the call of duty every day to serve not only the residents of Danbury but our surrounding communities."
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