Matt Springer
Talk to the people who know him best, and they’ll tell you that it’s not a surprise that Matt Springer was named a Hometown Hero.
Springer is a volunteer firefighter and EMT with the Harmony Fire District. He was selected as one of this year’s honorees by the Rotary Club of Zelienople.
“He absolutely has a passion for the job and doing the right thing every time,” said Scott Garing, chief of Fire and Emergency Services for Cranberry Township. “He cares about meticulous details and being quick and smooth with it.”
Garing worked with Springer at the Harmony Fire District, where he served as the chief. He said Springer is one of those rare guys who not only knows his stuff but is happy to pass on that knowledge to others for the betterment of the entire department.
“He takes his skills and passes them on to other firefighters to make them as engaged and good as he is,” said Garing. “I caught him once at midnight doing drills with the new firefighters in the parking lot. It was a great moment to see. It takes people like him to continue to make the firefighters that we want and deserve in our communities.”
Garing recounted another time when Springer’s quick thinking and bravery prevented a resident from suffering a serious medical issue. It was during a flooding incident that involved deep, fast-moving waters.
All the water rescue teams were busy on other calls. Despite the danger, Springer led a team across the water to help a resident who suffered arterial bleeding in his foot from stepping on something sharp in the floodwaters. “It was a scary and tense situation,” Garing said.
More recently, Springer responded to a vehicle accident at New Castle and Linden streets in April in which the driver was suffering from cardiac arrest. He was on the way home from a friend’s house when he heard the call for the accident and responded, even though he was off-duty.
He and some other pedestrians got into the driver’s car and took turns administering CPR to the victim until EMS arrived on the scene. “Mr. (Joseph) Maddalon absolutely is alive today because of Matt’s quick-thinking and the help of the others at the scene,” Garing said.
Springer said he genuinely wants to help people, which is the driving force behind his service. He’s so dedicated to helping others that he’s currently pursuing his Act 120 certification to become a police officer. He’ll graduate from the Allegheny County Police Academy on Dec. 15, making him a fourth-generation police officer in his family.
He’s surprised he was nominated for and ultimately named a Hometown Hero.
“I don’t like to give myself too much credit because it takes a team,” Springer said. “I think I was nominated for doing what any other first responder would do in the same situation — take action, go back to your training, and use it to help people.”
