Bartlesville Fire Department Capt. Adam Butterfield has been named 2020’s Bartlesville Firefighter of the Year, Fire Chief John Banks announced this week.
Butterfield, who was the only firefighter nominated this year for the award, started his career as a firefighter with BFD in February 2001. He was promoted to his current rank of captain in October 2016. He is currently assigned to Central Fire Station, located at 601 S. Johnstone Ave., as the captain on Pumper 11 and is also a member of the BFD Honor Guard.
He was nominated for the award by Training Officer/Public Information Officer Bill Hollander.
“Throughout the year, Adam has been instrumental and very proactive on training his crew and he continually comes up with innovative training ideas,” Hollander said. “I remember Adam asking that cars be stacked on top of each other for rescue tool training, trying out new ladder techniques, and most recently teaching others how to make a high line while we trained with the rope gun.”
Hollander pointed out one incident, in particular, in which Butterfield acted above and beyond his duties.
“In June of this year there was a catastrophic vehicle accident in front of Atwood’s on Highway 75,” Hollander said. “One occupant had a near leg amputation that severed a major artery. The individual was extremely large and even using two tourniquets tied together was not enough to get the job done.
“Adam improvised by using his personal length of webbing and a discarded door handle to make a tourniquet for the victim. This action probably saved this individual’s life and should be rewarded.”
Banks agrees Butterfield’s honor is well deserved.
“Adam is is a well respected, hard working member of the department who always goes the extra mile to make sure he and his crew are prepared to deal with whatever emergency may come up,” said Banks. “We congratulate him on this very well deserved honor.”