By Niesha Lofing
nlofing@sacbee.com
A Twin Rivers police officer is being recommended for an award after performing CPR on a 72-year-old man at a fire scene.
Officer Dan Birch was on patrol at 5 p.m. Friday when he noticed a plume of smoke near Marconi Avenue and Connie Drive, according to a news release by the Twin Rivers Police Department.
Birch was the first unit on scene and called the fire department, then got out of his car and went towards the fire that was coming form the back of a tire shop and adjacent home.
The tire shop's owner, Manuel Mendoza, was trying to put out the fire with a garden hose and Birch began helping him. When Birch went to move his patrol car for the incoming fire trucks, the homeowner told him that someone was on the ground.
Birch came back and found Mendoza on the ground and unresponsive. He immediately started CPR and kept at it for three to four minutes until Sacramento City and Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews arrived and began advanced life support treatment, the release states.
Mendoza's pulse was restored before he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
Fire and medical crews said Mendoza likely would not have lived had Birch not been there.
Police Chief Christopher Breck said Birch's service went exceeded the department's expectations.
"I am honored and humbled to be associated with a hero," Breck said in a written statement.
Birch is being recommended for the department's Life Saving Medal Award.
Call The Bee's Niesha Lofing, (916) 321-1270.
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