Redmond assistant fire marshal and businessman and wife honored at Red Cross Heroes Breakfast

Published 3:51 pm Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wheaties may be the breakfast of champions, but Tuesday morning at Seattle’s Washington State Convention Center was the breakfast of heroes as the American Red Cross recognized individuals in King County who have gone above and beyond the duties of the everyday citizen.

Stephanie Schoo, regional communications director for Red Cross, said people were honored for a number of different things, but their actions all personified the Red Cross’s mission: neighbors helping neighbors when they need it most.

“Some are pretty dramatic and literally life saving and some are working day in, day out to help make our community a safer, stronger place,” she said about the acts and individuals who were honored at the 16th Annual Heroes Breakfast. “They’re doing it selflessly. They’re not doing it for themselves. They’re doing it to help other people.”

Among those honored at the event — which was also a fundraiser for the Red Cross — were Redmond Fire Department (RFD) assistant fire marshal Todd Short and Redmond businessman John Atzbach and his wife Cary Atzbach.

They received the Medical Rescue and Water Rescue awards respectively.

OFF-DUTY CALL

Short, who lives in Kenmore, was at the Great Harvest Bread Company in Redmond when a man on a cell phone entered the bakery demanding the address. Short said the other man was aggressive and something about the situation didn’t “settle well” with him. So Short looked out to the parking lot and saw the man on the phone and a woman standing outside of a car with an open driver-side door. Inside was a man slumped over the steering wheel.

Short rushed outside and immediately began assisting the unconscious man, who was Don Trombly of Issaquah. The woman was his wife Dixie Trombly. Once Short and the other man, who had been on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, got Don out of the car, Short began chest compressions. Within a minute, Don began regaining consciousness, which was a great sign as it usually takes longer, Short said.

Although Short now works on the fire prevention side of the RFD, he began as a firefighter and has maintained his medical training, which he said just kicked in while assisting Don. Within minutes, an ambulance arrived and Don was taken to the hospital, where he underwent triple bypass surgery.

Before this week’s breakfast, Short had spoken with the Tromblys on the phone and met them once before while shooting a video for Tuesday’s event. He said before meeting the couple, he didn’t feel he deserved the title of “hero.” It was just a case of being in the right place at the right time that Friday morning, which was pure chance as Short usually doesn’t work Fridays. He said he was in Redmond because he went into work briefly for a meeting and had been off duty when he assisted Don.

Short said this feeling of outside factors controlling the situation was a common sentiment among the other honorees at the breakfast.

“We didn’t do anything that anyone else would’ve done,” Short said.

However, once he met the Tromblys and saw how his actions had impacted the couple, Short began to understand things from their perspective. During his speech at the breakfast, he said the reward and satisfaction he has experienced “runs deep and is lasting.”

NEAR TRAGEDY AT SEABROOK

Like Short, John Atzbach said he and his wife Cary just happened to be on the Seabrook beach on the coast of Washington at the right time when they helped save 11-year-old Peter Dyer of West Seattle from drowning late last summer.

“I know what we did was a great thing, but I can’t imagine not doing anything you can to help someone in that kind of situation,” John said.

John said the boy was playing in ankle-deep water around a large log when the tide came in, rocking and bouncing the log. Peter disappeared and the couple knew he was under the log. John ran over to find Peter facedown in the water with the log perpendicular across his back. He said Cary tried to call 911, but the calls kept dropping due to poor reception. They worked to get the boy’s mother’s attention, which was difficult as John said she was a couple hundred yards away with Peter’s younger siblings and couldn’t hear them over the wind and surf. John also tried to get the log off Peter without success.

“It was a huge log,” John said. “I couldn’t budge it a millimeter it was so heavy.”

He said the log was at least 1,000 pounds.

Eventually a large wave crashed into them, giving the log enough buoyancy for John to lift and roll it off of Peter. Once the boy was out from under the log and with his mother, John ran to call 911 on a landline, with better success. Peter was airlifted to Haborview Medical Center with a lacerated liver, a tear in his intestine and significant bruising.

The Atzbachs reunited with the Peter and the Dyers at Tuesday’s breakfast (above).

“We saw him today for the first time,” John said Tuesday afternoon. “It seems like he’s doing absolutely great. … It’s really great to see that he’s fine and doing well. … You would never know there was an incident.”

A WORTHY CAUSE

Both John and Short said after attending Tuesday’s breakfast they were impressed by the Red Cross and all the organization does. One thing they both pointed out was how 91 cents of every dollar donated goes to people who need it — the remaining 9 cents goes toward administration and overhead, which both men said is commendable for such a large organization.

John also praised the Red Cross volunteers and all the work they do.

“In my opinion, they deserve tremendous accolades,” he said.

Schoo said one of main services the Red Cross offers is local disaster relief. These disasters are usually house fires and she said while donations have remained at about the same level, the level of support people need has increased due to the down economy.

The money from Tuesday’s breakfast, which usually brings in about 800 people, goes toward general Red Cross programs and services, which in addition to disaster relief, include first aid, CPR and lifeguard training. This year’s breakfast brought in $397,000.

Schoo said her favorite thing about the event is listening to all the inspirational stories, which remind her that there are good people out there, despite how negative the news can be.

“It’s all a good cause,” she said about the Red Cross’s different events. “But this is the one event I leave where I feel good.”