Firefighter, wife honored for efforts during deadly crash
John Martinolich and his wife Shelley at the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue awards ceremony on November 10. They each received awards for their efforts in assisting during an accident that killed five cyclists.
By Lauren Martinez
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LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — A Las Vegas firefighter and his wife, who is not a firefighter, are receiving the highest honors for their life saving efforts.
On Wednesday evening, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue held their third annual awards ceremony where they recognized 131 members.
During opening statements, Battalion Chief Matt Gordon said the people in the room were being awarded for either changing someone’s life or saving someone’s life.
Those being recognized included fire personnel who rescued people during the Alpine motel fire in 2019, as well as those that worked at different COVID-19 pop-up vaccination sites.
At the very end of the ceremony, an off-duty firefighter and his wife received the highest honors.
On the morning of Dec. 10, 2020, firefighter and paramedic John Martinolich and his wife Shelley were heading toward Bullhead City, Arizona to visit his mother, a trip they take on U.S. 95 at least twice a month. They came across a crash right after a box truck hit a group of cyclists, killing five of them.
“I remember it being a beautiful Sunday morning as we left our house only to have to turn back for five minutes as we forgot something that day. Little did I know that five minutes would change our lives forever. I remember pulling up to the scene and getting out and seeing you know what we saw and the first thing I could think of is I didn’t want my wife to see this,” John Martinolich said.
He said he saw cyclists on the ground and some seem dazed. Another was on the phone so he asked if he could use it assuming he was on the phone with 911, which he was. Martinolich was then able to speak with dispatch directly and coordinate the kind of resources they needed.
He grabbed his personal medical bag he kept in the car and Shelley then assisted him. Shelley had no medical emergency experience.
“Of course being a paramedic all the words- the jargon he was using I just had to tell him you need to kind of laments terms on what you need for me to do. And he did that and I think it was just try to do what we could do with the resources that we had,” Shelley Martinolich said.
For 25 minutes, John and Shelley were doing the best they could before medical responders arrived. The crash location was on U.S. 95 south of Boulder City, near Searchlight.
“I feel like over the years I have been able to solve any problem from all the things that I’ve done, and this one was just one I was like- what am I going to do here I have no idea how I’m going to solve this so we just did the best that we could,” John Martinolich said.
Both agreed those 25 minutes felt like an hour. But they were able to save lives.
“The patient that was life flighted out definitely was in critical condition but I was told was in the hospital for I think two-three days and made a full recovery,” John Martinolich said.
At the end of the ceremony, Shelley received the Citizen Life Saving Award and John received the Medal of Honor.
“They have distinguished themselves as acting in a manner beyond the scope of their normal duties reflecting the highest honor of service to the community in the area of fire and emergency services. Congratulations to both of you,” Battalion Chief Matt Gordon said.
John prepared a speech recounting what happened that morning and how proud he is of Shelley.
“As paramedics we rely heavily on EMT partners, it can make or break you on a scene. My wife was my EMT partner that day even with no medical training she stayed calm, did what I asked and went above and beyond. All this while wearing gloves three times of the size of her hands, I just want to say honey I am proud of you,” John Martinolich said.
The couple still makes the same drive down U.S. 95 at least twice a month.
“It’s pretty rough because we still make that journey to his mom’s house. So we pass the scene and we always sort of talk about what had happened and what we remember and I think that’s how we kind of heal more is cause we talk about it more,” Shelley Martinolich said.
Counseling and therapy have helped the couple deal with the aftermath of the crash.
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