City fire department celebrates courageous Calgarians
Group of ‘ordinary’ individuals risked their lives helping others in need
He had no time to think about it. Instead, Raymond Fang just acted.
“All I knew was, I just wanted to save the young woman’s life,” says Fang, a 43-year-old father of two. “Somehow, I found the strength to pull her out of the burning car and get her away from the fire.”
On this Wednesday afternoon, Fang is taking time out of his busy life to once again think about that day in July of 2017, when he risked his life to save the life of a stranger. As he shares his memories of the experience, his emotions quickly rise to the surface.
“I feel pretty good about it, to be honest,” he says, adding with a chuckle, “Saving someone’s life is a pretty incredible thing to think about.”
Since that day seven months ago, the Chinese expat has gone about his life, helping run his family’s granite business. Now he finally gets his moment in the public spotlight, as one of those so-called ordinary, extraordinary people who chose to do something heroic rather than be a witness to tragedy.
The annual Beyond the Call recognition awards luncheon, hosted by the Calgary Fire Department, honours Fang and several other Calgarians — along with a few local firefighters who sprung into action while off-duty — for their courage, kindness and selflessness in emergencies that took place over the past year and a half.
They come from all walks of life, their actions earning them awards in three categories: Appreciation (which recognizes individuals for providing basic first aid or an act of kindness to a victim at a CFD -attended scene); Recognition (which acknowledges individuals for significant effort in an emergency where people or property were in danger); and Commendation (for those intervening proactively in a life-saving situation or risking personal injury to save another).
They’ve done everything from saving an injured animal in a body of water (Dustin Hanson), to helping evacuate people from a burning building (Kim Fisher), to performing CPR on a person in cardiac arrest (Danni Kerr and Shaun Marcia).
Some, like Fang, put their lives on the line to save another. In his case, it was a motor-vehicle collision on Glenmore Trail. A speeding vehicle spun out of control, crashing into a ditch. Two male occupants made it out, but the female driver was trapped in the burning vehicle.
“I looked inside and saw her, her dress was burning,” says Fang, who now realizes an explosion was possible. “The door wouldn’t open, so I kicked and kicked the window until it broke.”
Fang says he knows the young woman survived, but he’s never heard from her and doesn’t even know her name.
“I’d only know her name if she came forward,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders. “But I’m OK with that — it’s enough to know that what I did saved her life.”
Margaret Bell says a similar mystery leaves her wondering to this day. Last August, she jumped into the cold waters of the Glenmore Reservoir to save a drowning man.
“I don’t need a thank-you,” she says with a smile, “but I would like to know how he is doing.”
She doesn’t know why he was out in the reservoir in the early morning in a boat without paddles. But she does believe she was there for a reason.
“Maybe it was fate, but I do feel it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, that someone with my life-saving skills was in the right place at the right time.”
Like her fellow heroes, Bell is thrilled to be recognized, especially if it might help save others.
“The attention is a bit nerveracking,” she says, “but if it helps get the word out on the importance of knowing CPR, then it will be worth it.”
As for Fang, he also doesn’t need to meet the young person whose life he saved. If he could talk to her, though, he says he’d give her one simple, fatherly message:
“Be more careful, don’t drive so fast. You have only one life.”