The Great Neck Alert Fire Company honored two of their junior firefighters at a special ceremony that took place recently at the company’s headquarters.
A well-deserved award was presented to outgoing Captain Abigail (Abby) Garcia for her hard work, dedication and extraordinary service to the Alert Junior Firefighters program. A second award was given to Junior Firefighter Ashley Talledo for saving her brother’s life last summer.
Abby joined the Alert Juniors in September 2015 and prior to becoming Captain in 2020, she served as Recording Secretary and 1st Lieutenant. In 2019, for the first time in the 40-year history of the Junior Firefighters program, the group was led by an all-female slate of officers, with Abby as Recording Secretary.
In that same year, the Great Neck Alert Junior Firefighters were named Youth Group of the Year by the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY). Abby graduated from Great Neck South High in June 2021 and is currently a freshman in college, attending SUNY Oneonta.
Ashley joined the Junior program in November 2016 and subsequently served as Recording Secretary. Last summer, while having breakfast with her family at a local diner, her brother began choking on his food that immediately blocked his airway. Ashley’s quick thinking and recall of her first aid and choking training instantly kicked in and she swiftly rendered the Heimlich maneuver, ultimately saving her brother’s life.
Ashley is currently a senior at Great Neck North High School and she, along with the other junior firefighters in the program, is Red Cross certified in First Aid, CPR, and AED and receives this training annually.
