An Irvington fire chief who stopped a man's vicious knife attack on his girlfriend last April has received national recognition for his heroism. Christopher T. DePaoli is one of 23 recipients of a medal for heroism from the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. DePaoli was with his two daughters near the Irvington train platform when he saw a man repeatedly stab a woman in the back and near area. DePaoli said he saw the woman on the ground yelling at a man. DePaoli called police and got out of his car to investigate. At first he thought it was a purse snatching, but then he saw the man had a knife. "I went back to the car and said to my daughter, 'Give me the baseball bat!'" DePaoli recalled to The Journal News last year. By the time he returned, he saw the woman on the ground and the man leaning over her stabbing her repeatedly.