by GLENN NYBACK
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- When Fire Lt. Richard Doody arrived at the scene of a grisly car crash one cold January night, he was certain the driver, whose car had slammed into a utility pole, would die.
Jonathan Adone's face was ashen gray, one eye was fixed open and the other was closed.
The odds seemed stacked against him.
Making matters worse, the 260-pound Kean University football player from Arden Heights was pinned so tightly in his car that getting him out, even after the door was pried open, was a very difficult challenge.
But Doody -- joined by Firefighters Michael Banovich, Fred Wenig, Robert Castelli, Daniel Castellano and Vincent D'Ovidio -- managed to pull Adone out by sliding him onto a wooden board and passing him off to ambulance personnel, in only two minutes.
For that feat, the six firefighters -- each of them from Ladder Co. 84 in Huguenot except D'Ovidio, who's assigned to Ladder Co. 87 in Annadale -- were honored yesterday as the Advance Firefighters of the Month.
A humble Doody focused attention on firefighters' abilities in general and on the EMS workers who save lives.
"Eleven thousand guys would have done exactly what I did," the 25-year FDNY veteran from Tottenville said. "To be recognized for it, I'm kind of embarrassed, to tell you the truth. It's nice to be honored but it's not necessary. We do what we do out of love for what we do."
Doody and his colleagues were presented with savings bonds by Ken Paulsen, associate city editor of the Advance.
"A man's alive today because of your actions. It's teamwork. You support each other, you work together . . . you're right there for each other. It's terrific what happened on that day."
Chief Michael Feminella of Battalion 21 in Rosebank lauded the crew for their work, stressing that Adone, who was in a coma for five weeks, wouldn't be alive without them.
"Time is of the essence when you work with a Hurst tool," Feminella said during a 20-minute ceremony at Engine Co. 164/Ladder Co. 84's firehouse on Drumgoole Road West. "You guys did a great job getting him out and getting him to the hospital. It's another example of what we do and how well-trained we are."
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