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Congratulations to Firefighter Carlos Lopez, recipient of the City of Coral Gables Firefighter of the Month Award, for the month of August 2014.
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Firefighter Carlos Lopez has been selected August's Firefighter of the Month for his meritorious display of job performance. Firefighter Lopez began his career as a paramedic on June 9, 2003 and shortly after was assigned to a Rescue truck. In October 2011 he earned an Associate's Degree to further his education. Firefighter Lopez has successfully tested for a Lieutenant's position and scored number one on the current list. During his 11-year career he has received above average evaluations from his supervisors and has received numerous commendations for actions above and beyond the call of duty.
On August 6th, Firefighter Lopez was assisting a fellow employee who was working on top of one of our fire trucks. Firefighter Lopez noticed the employee was losing his balance and falling backwards off the top of the fire truck head first. Firefighter Lopez immediately lunged forward attempting to catch the employee and managed to diminish the impact of the fall, thus reducing the injury to the employee. The ER physician was quoted as saying "whoever attempted to catch this employee probably saved his life." Undoubtedly Firefighter Lopez's quick reaction helped minimize what could have been a tragic event.