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Harris, this year’s Richmond Fire Rescue member of the year award winner, was selected for his selfless acts in two incidents that occurred while he was off duty.
With his family on Bowen Island, he heard cries for help from a nearby dock. He realized running around the dock would take too long, so he removed his shirt and passed his belongings to his eight-year-old daughter.
He dove into the water swimming to the dock, to help perform CPR on a middle aged man. Harris remained with the patient while paramedics were called and the patient was taken by helicopter to VGH.
Secondly, while at home, Harris heard screams from outside where he saw a man writhing in pain in a pool of blood on the street.
A garbage truck had run over one of its workers. Harris did not hesitate to help and immediately called 911, then covered the man, protecting him from the elements and staying with him until police, ambulance, and fire arrived.
In accepting his award, Harris said he was not alone in the incidents.
On Bowen Island there were many people who helped. And this award is “as much theirs as mine,” he said.
