I see where the City of Brownsville is going to schedule a ceremony to recognize the 30 years of service by Brownsville Fire Dept. Chief Lenny Perez.
That has lined the pockets of labor mediation lawyers like Ric Navarro and his law firm who have been keeping busy putting out the fires, for a hefty legal fee, of course.
Perez has already accepted a new gig in Pharr and the new chief (Deputy Chief Joseph Horn) takes over the duties today.
About 14 years ago, the Queen Isabella causeway collapsed, attracting worldwide attention to our neck of the woods.
Firefighters and paramedics arrived to find that a 240-foot section of the causeway had been knocked down by a runaway barge and that several cars were already sunk in the waters below some 80 to 90 feet into the dark waters of the Laguna Madre.
When the BFD firefighters arrived, there were Port Isabel and Los Fresnos units at the scene. The two EMS personnel from Los Fresnos, a former Marine and a former Navy veteran, were peering into the dark.
"You could see that some of the headlights were still on in the cars underwater," said one. "We could tell that there was nothing we could do for the people in those cars because the cars were piled on top of each other."
Although some of the drivers and passengers in the cars were able to be saved – some by swimming away on their own – firefighters were unable to see whether the driver of a two-door gray sedan that was teetering on a concrete abutment below was still alive."We couldn't tell," said one. "He looked like he was dead."
The firefighters were only able to tie several ropes to the car, an unacceptable method to stabilize the car in case of a rescue attempt.
"When we were talking about the man being probably dead, he made a movement to let us know he was still alive," recalls the firefighter. "At that point, neither the ex-Marine nor the Navy veteran volunteered to take the risk of going after the man on the unstable car."
A Brownsville firefighter recalls that one of his company was just getting on the scene when they noticed that J.P. Montoya, then working part-time as a Port Isabel EMS paramedic looked in the car and started making his way to the trapped motorist.
"He didn't think twice about it," the firefighter recalled. "The car wasn't stable with just those ropes but he went in after him anyway."
Montoya reached the sedan and spoke to the man who was badly injured as a result of the of the impact with the remnants of the bridge above and the plunge to the bottom. The impact had been so great that the motor had become detached form the car and was lying on the side on the concrete separated from the car.
He climbed in through the broken windshield without a life vest or ropes to reach the injured man.
"He was pleading with me not to leave him there to die," Montoya recalled. "He was a big guy and when I went in the car and tried to pull him out his foot was wedged in the wreckage. Try as I might I couldn't get him loose because his foot was smashed and stuck in the wreckage."
With the man pleading with him not to leave him, Montoya opted to take drastic measures.
"I could see his foot was useless and that he was already bleeding profusely and he was going into shock," he said. "So I pulled and pulled and broke his leg until I could pull him free."
Then, using all his strength to pull the dying man out of the car, the firefighter pulled the large victim out and hauled him across his back and then out to a waiting Coast Guard boat which took him to shore and into an ambulance to get him to the hospital. That was Gaspar H. Hinojosa, they later found out."Nobody else wanted to go in there and he did," they all agreed.
Hinojosa died on the way to the hospital, but the man's relatives were glad that the firefighters had rescued him from the murky waters of the Laguna.
A few hours later, the concrete base of the causeway where the car had teetered and Montoya had climbed in to retrieve the victim collapsed into the currents below.
At the time Perez was interim chief.
When the time finally came around and entities began issuing proclamations in recognition of their bravery, Montoya – working for the BFD as a firefighter and with Port Isabel as an EMS paramedic – was unceremoniously handed his congressional resolution by his supervisor at the firehouse. Even though the certificate of congressional recognition singled out Montoya and another firefighter for their bravery, they were not invited to the ceremony and Perez accepted it on their behalf instead.
"We had just finished with a cardiac case and were getting back to the fire house when my supervisor Robert Perez came into the dormitory and handed me the congressional awards," Montoya recalled. "He told me that they had had a big ceremony at City Hall but that the chief had told them that they couldn't find us. All that time the presentations were made we were on duty."
Firefighters also recalled that the Department of Public Safety troopers who were on the shore and the Cameron County Sheriff's Department deputies who answered the call were also awarded the highest recognition awarded to public employees, the equivalent of the congressional medal of honor.
"I really don't understand why they were recognized for basically doing nothing," said a firefighter. "As far as anyone knows, it was Lenny and them that grabbed the headlines while the actual deeds were done by others."
Perez proudly received recognition from then-U.S. Congressman Solomon Ortiz for and other entities for the gallant rescue of the victims. Perez accepted the congressional resolution for the firefighters and EMS personnel but failed to mention to the assembled crowd that they hadn't been notified of the impending ceremony and he he had decided to accept it in public on their behalf.
Partly as a result of the media coverage, Perez was elevated from interim chief and selected from among four others to head the BFD.
"He said that if they recognized one or two the rest of the firefighters would be resentful so he decided to receive the recognition himself," said a firefighter who was at the rescue scene. "They claimed they couldn't locate them, when in fact some of them were on duty at the time."
11 comments:
What some people don't understand about being a police officer or firefighter is that being a good leader of men and an asshole at the same time is OK when the leader cares about his men getting home.But when your just an asshole and a puppet of city government ,using your position of power to make attorneys rich and the lives of your men miserable ,.that's when you have lost all respect from your men except from certain inept brown nosers.Charlie Cabler new about all the ineptness and major mistakes made but did nothing,what does it say about him .
What a piece of shit !! He has absolutely no shame but the truth always comes to light sooner or later
I guess Chief Lenny, follows the Obama model of leading from behind.
That's my kid brother J.P. He never protested publicly about being snubbed. He saves lives, period. You can catch him at his new job at the E.R. at DHR. So proud of you bro !
Good old Lenny, who plays Guillermo on late night TV with Jimmy Kimble. Lenny is a fireman, but a dumbass, depending on the collective bargaining system and not on leadership. Lenny's a DICK!!!
MONTOYA....QUE PINCHE CORBATA SE PUSO ESTE GUEY.PON OTRAS FOTOS PORQUE CON ESTAS FOTOS NOSOTROS VAMOS A DEJAR DE LEER TU BLOG.
As a veteran of the Brownsville Fire Dept. I can verify that your report is accurate and true. Mr. J.P. Montoya at no time got the credit he deserved for his bravery. Most emergency personnel just dream of the opportunity to serve our public, even at the expense of our own lives. That's what you train for. I do not fault the EMS personnel of Port Isabel, Los Fresnos, or even the DPS which god forbid they should wrinkle or dirty their uniforms. ( By the way, at this point, allow me to reminisce about the DPS.) All they were good for was walking like ducks in a row away from the scene and brushing the dust off their uniforms at the Tienda Amigo Collaspe in 88. They do not have the caliber of personnel that the BFD have. Brownsville Fire Department is as good as is gets. As is the case with BPD.
Getting back to the subject at hand, let me just say Charlie Cabler did not do his job and gave this kiss ass of a chief chance after chance far too long. But hey, Navarro should send him a nice Christmas gift for the steady work Lenny provided. Good Luck Pharr Fire Dept. You're gonna need it.
Lenny was given the job 15 years ago and he left the department exactly the same regardless of the growth in our city. No new stations, no more medic units, NO PROGRESS! He is a total worthless piece of SHIT. Sorry I had to insult SHIT.
If you remember it was days after 9/11, we thought someone had bombed the bridge, high fear and stress was all over the place, bomb threats to the Brownsville international bridges were being relayed to local fire and police it, was a difficult time managing the job and family. Just wanted to give a shout out to the brave men, who were out there in the water. If you look at the picture imagine being out there in 30-40 mph winds with racing currents under you, pich black dark. Knowing people died and were dying, with a very large power cable with millions of volts that supplied the entire island with electricity, dangling in the water not knowing if you were going to get electrocuted. Thumbs up to Montoya and the Brownsville dive team for getting into the water and doing search and rescue operations. It takes some brass balls to do what they did God bless you all. P.S can someone post the names who actually did rescue operations, they deserve recognition, yes even Marvin Hall.
If you think Lenny was bad, you guys a!ready got the taste of your own union president....he'll be ten times worse. Just wait and see!!
It will be very very hard to beat Leonardo ,Carlos is just lost
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