Firefighter Of The Year: Volunteer Again Honored For Rescuing Fellow Firefighter

Sixth award for Andrew Kolesar, a longtime Rockland County volunteer who is also a FDNY firefighter.

Volunteer firefighter Andrew Kolesar has been named the Firefighter of the Year by the Hudson Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association.

It is the sixth time that Kolesar, a former chief of the West Haverstraw Fire Department in Rockland County, has been honored for a rescue in January 2011, when he saved the life of a fellow volunteer firefighter trapped in a burning.

Kolesar will receive his award at the Hudson Valley Association’s annual convention June 22 in South Glens Falls, N.Y., accompanied by his wife, son, daughter and a color guard of firefighters from his company, Volunteer Hose Co. 2, West Haverstraw.

Kolesar is being honored for the Jan. 14, 2011, rescue of his captain, Kenneth Patterson, of Volunteer Hose 2. Patterson ran out of air and collapsed while searching the second floor of 222 Westside Ave., Village of Haverstraw, an illegally-converted dwelling.

"I was at the right place at the right moment," Kolesar said of the Jan. 14 rescue . "I knew he was nearby me, but I couldn't see him."

Using a thermal imaging camera, Kolesar located Patterson, whose face mask was already taken off after it collapsed because of lack of air.

Kolesar grasped Patterson's air-pack straps, pulled him out of the room and slid 

with him down the stairs, where they met with two other firefighters. Patterson was treated for extremely high carbon monoxide levels in a hospital, but was released to recover at home.

Previously, Kolesar was awarded the DeFumere Medal of Valor March, 2011 by Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef. The medal is awarded to an individual emergency service first responder who, in recognition of extreme bravery and heroism under life-threatening conditions, goes above and beyond in the call of duty to keep the Rockland County community and its residents safe.

In June 2011, Kolesar was named Firefighter of the Year by the New Jersey and New York Volunteer Firemen’s Association, and received the same honor from the Rockland County Volunteer Firemen’s Association at its September 2011 convention. This April, Firehouse magazine cited Kolesar’s rescue as number 21 of the top 25 in the United States for 2011.

Last month, U.S. Rep. Nan Hayworth honored Kolesar with a congressional commendation award for the rescue. The volunteer is also a firefighter with the New York City Fire Department, assigned to an engine company in Spanish Harlem.