Jun. 21—Cresson VFD and the surrounding community had plenty to celebrate last week.

The department, along with a crowd of roughly 200, gathered June 14 to celebrate life-saving measures and a shiny new tanker truck.

Cresson VFD members were recognized for one such life-saving instance by the Chisholm Trail 100 Club that occurred in May, when VFD and Texas EMS staff were dispatched to a rural residence where they found a 19-year-old man who was not breathing and pulseless.

Firefighter Matt Vaughn and Firefighter/EMT Samuel Escobedo began performing chest compressions and attaching a defibrillation machine. Operations Chief/Paramedic Jerad Gomez arrived to help, and after several minutes, the man began attempting to breath and his pulse returned.

More paramedics arrived on scene, and the man was administered Narcan and was successfully resuscitated, then transported to an area hospital, where he would later be released with no neurological deficits.

In February, CVFD volunteers responded to the Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, where a 76-year-old man had become unresponsive.

Chief Ron Becker and Firefighters Joey Falter and Scott Delaney began performing CPR and administered defibrillation shocks to the man until he regained a pulse. The man was transported by Texas EMS to a hospital via ambulance.

In his nomination letter, Becker recognized seven Motorsport Ranch employees for their crucial role in the man’s successful outcome, as well as the six CVFD firefighters and three Texas EMS responders.

“It’s important to publicize the important steps bystanders at these types of emergencies can take to make a difference rather than just stand to the side,” Becker wrote.

The department recognized Parker County ESD 6, which was responsible for providing the life-saving equipment to CVFD.

The June 14 celebration also included a “wet down” ceremony of the new Tanker 30, a 4,000-gallon tanker fire truck acquired through the Texas A&M Forest Service, Johnson County ESD 1 and the city of Cresson.

Afterward, the community gathered for the official push-in as the tanker made its way through the bay doors of a building extension at the fire station, made possible by Hood County commissioners.

Becker said the department was “humbled” by the outpouring of support, noting one man stopped in just to just show his gratitude to the department.

“One man said, ‘I’ve never been in a fire station before, but you saved my house from a large grass fire some years back and I just wanted to come say thanks,'” Becker noted.