Public Employee Press

"It was just in me to help"
— Stephen Aran, Local 2507 EMT

"A hero is a sandwich. I just wanted to help," said Emergency Medical Tech Stephan Aran.

His quick-thinking actions on March 12 tell a different story.

Aran was jammed in traffic on the FDR Drive and swung onto local streets to get to his grandmother's East Harlem apartment.

"I was at a light on Park Avenue and 115th Street when I heard it," the Local 2507 member said. His vehicle shook. An explosion, triggered by a natural gas leak from aged infrastructure, blew out windows for blocks around. It rocked East Harlem at 9:31 a.m. and leveled two five-story buildings at 1644 and 1646 Park Ave., killing eight and leaving 70 more injured.

Aran checked his rear view mirror. "I saw clouds of smoke and dust and flames as far as I could see, and it was loud," said the six-year Fire Dept. EMT. "I had my FDNY shirt in the car so I grabbed it and my tech bag and ran toward the noise and chaos."

Quick response

Among the first on the scene, Aran arrived even before Police and Fire crews. He sprang into action, pulling an elderly lady who was abandoned in an ambulette van to safety with help from a passerby.

"There were people trapped in a minivan in traffic in front of the buildings, people in their cars waiting for the light to turn green, when everything came raining down on them," Aran said.

Under the Metro North trestle at 115th and Park, he set up a temporary triage area to make sure the injured most in need of treatment would be helped first.

Aran, who also serves in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, grabbed bandages and ice packs from his first aid bag, checked victims' breathing, determined whether they could talk and walk and cleaned their cuts and abrasions.

Other Good Samaritans, including an off-duty nurse and some construction workers, helped him as some passersby recorded events with cell-phone cameras.

With his FDNY shirt as identification, Aran reached an EMS Lieutenant and Local 3621 member, who had set up another temporary triage at 117th Street and Park Ave.
Aran said he helped patients until EMS could take them to Harlem Hospital.

"At end of day, we treated 26 people," Aran said. "I was just at the right place at the right time. The Fire Department trains us for these situations. My main concern was to get everyone out of the area to safety. It is just in me to help."