Lt. Greg Smith received the First Responder Hero award from the American Red Cross of Southeast Tennessee for his outstanding leadership, including his actions on the night of the 2020 Easter tornado.
Lt. Smith and the crew from Quint 21 were the first to truly respond to the disaster area and mitigated emergencies prior to overall operations being established. They began searching homes in East Brainerd, getting people who had lost their houses into shelters and getting the injured stabilized and moved to where they could be quickly located and taken to the hospital. He did this without the ability to call for additional help over the overtaxed radio system.
Smith and the others combed an extremely large area by themselves before anyone else got there, walking through numerous hard-hit areas. They found an 84-year-old patient with a badly broken leg and treated her. With the help of some Chattanooga police officers, the team removed a door from the woman’s home, placed her on it and carried her out of the rubble on the door for more than a mile to get her help. Then they went right back to searching more areas and aiding more storm victims. Smith continued working until his crew was relieved many hours later.
“It was a unique situation. I rely on faith and trust in God to get us through it and then our training kicks in. I give credit to the incredible team of people around me,” he said, grateful and humbled by the award.
His fellow firefighters praised Smith’s his work ethic, his honesty and fairness, his attention to detail, his kindness and genuine compassion, and his dedication to the job and his community. Congratulations, Lt. Smith!
The American Red Cross Virtual Heroes Event is scheduled for Thursday, November 19 at 7p.m. Event Sponsorships are currently available by contacting Julia Wright at the American Red Cross at julia.wright@redcross.org.
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