Scary moments

Comrades became lifesavers for Floriani

Josef Noska (r.) and Gebhard Gangl can laugh again.(Bild: privat)

Josef Noska, a member of the Kirchschlag fire department for 52 years, suffered a cardiac arrest during a training session. His comrades reacted immediately and saved the 69-year-old's life.

In the beginning, everything went as usual when the senior group of the Kirchschlag fire department prepared for a competition in summer: the comrades laid a supply line with hoses and rehearsed the fastest possible extinguishing attack. But while clearing the way, firefighter Josef Noska (69) fell.

"Thought Sepp had tripped"
"At first I thought Sepp had tripped. We ran over and noticed that he was no longer breathing and had no pulse," says his comrade Gebhard Gangl, describing the anxious moments. "I started giving chest compressions and my colleagues set the rescue chain in motion." Shortly afterwards, the local doctor and another doctor who happened to be at the sports field next door arrived. The doctors assisted with a defibrillator - which worked and the 69-year-old's heart began to beat again. A rescue helicopter flew him to hospital.

Saving his life was the greatest victory
15 days later, Noska - who has been a volunteer firefighter for 52 years - was allowed to leave the hospital. He probably owes his life to the exemplary reaction of his comrades. To mark the occasion, the Red Cross is once again reminding people what to do in an emergency: call the emergency services and administer first aid yourself. "Doing nothing is the only thing you can do wrong," says the Red Cross.

Incidentally, the fire department canceled its participation in the competition for which the senior group had been training. "We won a much bigger victory because we saved Sepp's life," says Gangl.